Power Rangers: Animal Guardians
by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley
Summary: Two years ago the Ancient Animal rangers defeated the Animali, or so they thought. Now, the Animali are back to destroy the Earth, and only three new teenagers can stop them.
1. Characters

Hey guys, here are the character bios!

 **Rangers**

 **Red Ranger-** **By: PerryTheBrave**

Ranger: Red, Leader

Power: Eagle

Name: Gregory Thomas Costello

Nickname: Geo

Gender: Male

Age: 17. Junior

Sexuality: Homosexual

Actor: Noah Centineo

Clothes: Normal - Hooded Long Sleeve shirts, jeans and converse, likes to wear beanies or bandanna headbands. Formal - Tuxedo with a red tie. Exercise - Sleeveless shirts with black shorts.

Personality: Geo is the type of a person who often times underestimates himself. As smart and skilled as he is, he tends to put himself down. However, he does want to do something more and make a change in his life. He likes to spend his time alone reading or playing hockey. He also has a distaste for anything that isn't "perfect" in his eyes. Anything less than a complete success is failure. He's a contradiction. He puts himself down with pressure to be perfect. That is also his flaw: he takes failure way too hard.

Backstory: His Father is a no show, and his mother works late nights at the local than that, he's grown up fairly normal. However, the fact that he has lots of friends bothers him as none have seen the real him. He acts chill and confident, but the massive amount of pressure he puts onto himself makes him feel disconnected from his peers.

Family: Mom - Ashley Costello, Hospital Nurse

Dream: Geo has a keen interest in Archaeology and Biology and wants to go into one of those fields.

Other: He has Clinical Depression and is triggered by his thoughts of not being perfect. He also crushes on one of his guy friends and struggles with being closeted. He wants to feel love, but he's afraid.

 **Black Ranger-** **By: Aquilla the Eagle**

Ranger: Black Ranger, 2nd in command.

Power: Bear

Name: Hershel Roger Deekins

Nickname: Goes by his middle name Roger.

Age: 17

Sexuality: Straight

Actor Portrayal: Tyrel Jackson Williams

Clothes: Roger wears a black hoodie over a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He has a black pair of dress pants, and a black dress shirt for formal purposes, but he hates to wear it. He also sleeps in a pair of black shorts, with no top.

Personality: Roger has bit of a superiority complex. He feels like he has to do as well as he can at everything he does (straight A's, class president), otherwise he will been seen as a failure. This comes with a bit of a temper, as well as a bit of depression when he lets somebody down. However when he feels like he's been doing his best, he's a calm guy that likes to write out his thoughts onto paper.

Backstory: Roger's parents both work full-time jobs and are away on business more often than not. That just left Roger, and his older brother Chris at home. While Roger is only good at some things, it seemed like Chris was good at everything. School, Sports, Video Games, and he even had a girlfriend (when he was 12). This Competition with his older brother has led Roger to have this superiority complex.

Family: Bart Deekins (Father, 43 years old), Valerie Deekins (Mother, 39 years old), Chris Deekins (Brother, 19 years old portrayed by Tyler James Williams).

Dreams: Secretly Roger wants to be a writer, but he knows that being a writer wouldn't impress his parents or his brother, so Roger is trying to enter Law School to become a Lawyer, and maybe eventually be able to run for president.

Other information: Being Second in command does hurt Roger initially, but he warms up to it after a while. A little while after that, Chris should somehow know that Roger is a ranger, and brotherly mock Roger about being 2nd in command, but Roger doesn't take it too well, and almost runs away from being a ranger.

 **Blue Ranger-** **By: DreamStar14**

Ranger: Blue

Power: Gorilla

Name: Callie Marie Campbell

Nickname: Cal

Gender: Female

Age: 17, Junior

Sexuality: Bisexual, thought still in the closet about it

Actress Portrayal: Ava Sambora

Clothes: Never really wears any pants or shorts, unless she's working out. She usually wears skirts and shorts, with blouses and a denim jacket, and knee-high boots. In the winter, her attire is the same, except with leggings added.

Personality: Cal is a calm and gentle human being, very kind and selfless, and always willing to help others. She can be tough when she has to be, but she prefers not to fight, always the peacemaker. She is insecure, and doesn't like to admit any of her problems aloud, and she can be stubborn when it comes to this.

Backstory: Her father died of cancer when she was seven years old. She only lives with her mother now, and all of her life, she's been a victim of bullying, mainly cyberbullying.

Family: Rebecca, mother – Therapist (of mental disorders)

Dreams: She only dreams of this world being free from fighting and wars.

Any other important information: She suffers from social anxiety, the fear of being judged and/or doing something that could lead to ridicule, and always tries to hide her panic attacks, which she finds very hard. Once this information is out in the open, she's very nervous about how the others will react.

 **Yellow Ranger-** **By: Condor-K**

Ranger: Yellow

Power: Elephant

Name: Tanzo Tachibana

Nickname: None

Gender: Male

Age: 17, Junior

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Portrayal: Toru Uchikado

Clothes: Wears a yellow shirt with long white sleeves reaching towards his wrists. Also wears a pair of tan cargo shorts and gold and white sneakers on his feet.  
To a dance, would wear a dark suit with black shirt and golden necktie.  
Workout Clothes: A yellow tank top, with white and black athletic shorts and a pair of neon green running shoes.

Personality: Lively and upbeat, Tanzo loves to meet new people and try new things. On the flip side, he can be easily bored with waiting or silence, and gets antsy pretty easily, even in class, which is why he'll try to sleep in them instead. Loves to hang out with his friends, and often comes up with events or ideas that brings his group together to hang out. Generally gets along with others, though some have been known to get a bit irritated with his overwhelming optimism. Also, he has trouble taking some things seriously, as it's easier for him to simply treat stuff like it's all a game, when faced with a very serious problem, he has great trouble adjusting, and often doesn't handle it well. Similarly doesn't like being alone or feeling isolated, and thrives with others, the bigger the group the better. Knows how to play guitar, but only really likes to play when he's got an audience. Has a bit of tendency to show off, and to talk himself up far more than he probably deserves, though he also likes to do the same for friends jokingly, even when it's blatantly untrue.

Backstory: Tanzo was the only child of his mother, Moriko, who, though she deeply loved, didn't get to spend a lot of time with her son because of the demanding hours of her work as a surgeon. Tanzo's father left the family when the boy was very young, and he has no memories of him. At first, Tanzo was very jealous of the time that his mother spent away from him, but was somewhat satiated with the knowledge that she was helping so many people in her work. Since then, he's learned to make the most out of every moment he's given with other people, not to hesitate, always making sure someone's day is at least a little better by his own presence. After so much practice at this with his mom, he takes this attitude to his friends as well.

Family: Mother. Moriko Tachibana. Surgeon.

Dreams: His somewhat childish dream is to become the lead guitarist of a punk rock band. But in actuality, his dream is to become a therapist for young adults and teens, helping them make the best out of the important times in their lives. However, with his poor grades, and less than stellar academic abilities, he doesn't really believe he can achieve it, and keeps the latter to himself.

Other: Likes watching horror movies with others, can't stand viewing them by himself.

 **Pink Ranger-** **By: lauraosnes**

Ranger- Pink

Power- Flamingo

Name- Kennedy Marie Lucas

Nickname- Kay

Gender- Female

Age- 16

Sexuality- Straight

Actress Portrayal- Dove Cameron

Clothes- She has a very classy style. A typical outfit would be a white polka dotted tank top, a black blazer, a pair of dark washed jeans and a pair of black booties. For a fancy event, she'd probably wear a dark red dress. Pajamas are pretty simple with a tank top and some sweat pants.

Personality- Kennedy likes to keep to herself. She'd prefer her chemistry books over human interaction any day. When people talk to her, she can be a little stand offish and blunt. She isn't afraid to give the hard truth, especially when someone needs to hear. She's very smart and usually gets A's. If people crack the wall she built around herself, they'll find a funny girl who actually has human feelings and cares about others. She's very protective of those close to her. She hates being weak in front of others and refuses to cry in front of people. While she is super smart, she hates talking in front of the classroom and will get major anxiety about it. She loves science, specifically chemistry and genetics. She also loved to read and write. Coffee is her favorite thing on the planet and you shouldn't talk to her in the morning before she's had a cup.

Backstory- Kennedy's father is an FBI Agent and is constantly traveling for work. Her mom was always there for her growing up but Kennedy didn't get to see her dad a lot and she hated that. When her younger brother was born, her mother's attention was focused on him due to the fact that he's deaf. She was pushed aside and Kennedy became more introverted because of it. She focused on her studies and fell in love with science. She began to favor her books over social interactions. She doesn't talk to a lot of people at school and spends her lunch under a tree outside the school with a book. And she's fine with that.

Family- Her father is Walter Lucas and is an FBI agent. He travels for work a lot and isn't there for Kennedy. Her mother is Diane Lucas and she spends most of her time babying her son. Hunter Lucas is Kennedy's younger brother who is 12 and is deaf.

Dreams- Kennedy wants to either be a doctor or a geneticist. She hopes to make some scientific breakthrough and win a Nobel prize.

Any other info- She knows ASL. She prefers Dunkin' Donuts over Starbucks. She can drive and has a Dodge Equinox.

 **Crimson Ranger-** **By: missalternativegirl**

Ranger: Crimson

Power: Owl

Name: Adelaide Nicole Danielson

Nickname: Ada

Gender: Female

Age: 18- senior

Sexuality: Bisexual

Actor/Actress Portrayal: Elizabeth Gillies

Clothes: A casual outfit consists of a plaid shirt over a black tank top, black ripped skinny jeans, and crimson converse. Pajamas include a crimson tank top and black shorts for when it's hot, and a long sleeved crimson top and black sweatpants for when it's cold. Formalwear is usually some type of dress, depending on how formal it is, in a crimson color.

Personality: Ada is the type of girl who likes doing things herself, whether it's a school project or even ranger business. She's stubborn when it comes to working with a team, well actually, she's stubborn in general. Although under all that, she's a genuinely kind person who is very selfless and would actually risk for her life for people she cares about.

Backstory: Ada is Veronica and Zackary's first daughter and their second child. Two years after her sister was born, her father left her mother, and her mother went down a darker path to cope with it. With her mother drinking to cope with Zackary leaving, Ada's family quickly became dysfunctional. Veronica started to abuse her children when she was drunk and at 15, Ada started fighting back at her. Though it wasn't the best choice, she's getting through her mother's drunkeness by learning to ignore her and going on with her life like her mother doesn't exist.

Family: Veronica Danielson (mother- 48), Zackary Danielson (father- 52), TJ Danielson (older brother- 23), Kassidy Danielson (younger sister- 15)

Dreams: She currently aspires to get into college for a psychology major, but her dreams keep changing so one dream never really stays for long. Though no matter what, she wants to get her little sister out of their mother's house.

Any other important information: -Has her license and drives a red chevy cruze.  
-Her selflessness can be proven to be a fatal flaw for her, as she wants to save any and everyone who is in danger, not matter who it is. It might come to a point where someone tells her "You can't save the whole world."  
-Was diagnosed with anxiety when she was 16.  
-Has a tattoo on her left shoulder. The tattoo is a quote "Sometimes you've gotta fall before you fly" with a small flock of birds flying above the quote.

 **Silver Ranger-** **By: ICrzy**

Ranger: Silver

Power: Lion

Name: Nathan Lee Giles

Nickname: Nate

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Sexuality: Straight

Actor/Actress Portrayal: Nathan Kress

Clothes: Casual appeal; with a silver quarter sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and black converse.

Personality: Nate is the kind of guy who likes to help others at any cost. He is very stubborn and will not take 'no' for a reason when people deny his help. He'll bend over backwards to care or help anyone. This comes from the fact he is an only child so he tends to want to care for everyone. He is very charismatic and loyal at the end of the day.

Backstory: Nathan is the only child to Carter and Lisa Giles, being born on October 12th 1998. Nate did all sorts of things without his parents, such as sports and after school clubs. His parents are busy because of their careers, Lisa being a brain surgeon and Carter being a defense attorney. Nate would spend his time with the guys on the baseball team or hang out with his good friend, Tyler, who happens to be his neighbor.

Family: Carter (father) and Lisa (mother).

Dreams: To becomes a pro baseball player.

Any other important information: Nate does do poor in school but doesn't mean to, he suffers from dyslexia. He gets tutored sometimes after school. Nate usually doesn't tell anyone about this, not even his parents know about this.

 **Teal** **Ranger-** **By: Chirar**

Ranger: Teal

Power: Giraffe

Name: Benjamin Yun

Nickname: Benny

Gender: Male

Age: 15, Sophomore

Sexuality: Bisexual

Actor/Actress Portrayal: Brandon Soo Hoo

Clothes: Varies, he wears black jeans with dark teal shirt and dark gray jacket. He has a gray/teal sneakers.

Personality: Benny is a natural nice guy with a sense of humor and a hidden talent of hacking into computers. He likes to make people laugh when they're down. On his alone time, he's on his computer, discovering new tricks. Even though he's a nice guy, he hates when people questions about his sexuality. He's not confused, experimenting or greedy. He just love both genders.

Backstory: Benny grew in a loving home but hated that his sister had to leave the house, due to very persistent school bullies. Yet when he went to school himself, he was fine. He discovered his sexuality during freshman.

Family: His parents are Dr. Joseph and Hannah Jun. He has two siblings: William 28 and Nicole 17.

William, married to Michelle Clark 27 has twins: one boy and girl; Kyle and Natalie 1.

Nicole, MIA

Dreams: He wanted to open an internet cafe with an old/new arcade but realistic, a computer technician.

Any other important information: Despite the long distance, Benny has a close relationship with both William and Nicole. He hasn't heard from Nicole two years. He came to live with his brother so he can find his sister.

 **Allies  
**

 **Created By: Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**

Name: Alicia Haynes (nee Powers)

Nickname: N/A

Gender: Female

Age: 29

Sexuality: Straight

Actor/Actress Portrayal: Alecia Moore (P!nk)

Clothes: Tight black tank top that ties in the front, similarly to buttons, and looks somewhat like a corset, black skinny jeans, and black boots.

Personality: Alicia is kind and selfless, loving to help the rangers and others with their training, or just giving advice. She's a very good mentor, and makes sure the rangers are getting along and are in check, but also acts as a friend when they need it. She can be a bit rough around the edges at times, but she comes through when she's needed.

Backstory: Alicia was born to Dr. Jonathon Powers and a currently unknown mother, that left her father and her after she was born. Jonathon always did a good job of taking care of his daughter, and made sure she had what she needed and that she knew what to do with her life and her powers. Similarly to her father and the Ancient Animal rangers, she is very powerful. She also helped in the training of the Ancient Animal rangers, and was very close to them.

Family: Dr. Jonathon Powers (Father; deceased), Unknown mother (MIA), Benjamin Haynes (Husband; Assistant mentor)

Dreams: To fulfill her father's wish to rid the world of evil and to have a family with Ben.

Any other important information: She has been in a relationship with Ben for two years, and the two have gotten married.

 **Created By: Green-Extreme-Ninjetti 13** (Sorry if it's changed a bit, I don't remember the exact OC form, so I just went with what I remember and have seen in my old story)

Name: Benjamin Haynes

Nickname: Ben

Gender: Male

Age: 21

Sexuality: Straight

Actor/Actress Portrayal: Charlie Hunnam

Clothes: White t-shirt, blue jeans, and black tennis shoes.

Personality: Ben is a bit hard to get along with initially, having a hard time opening up due to his past, but once he opens up he is a very kind hearted person who would do anything for anyone in need. He's also a bit sassy and sarcastic in the way he speaks and regards people.

Backstory: Ben's parents were in a car accident on the way to hospital to give birth, and his parents didn't make it. Doctors quickly realized Ben was still in his mother, and managed to save him by preforming a C-section on the deceased woman. After this, Dr. Powers came to get the newborn Ben, as he new he was going to be something great.

Family: Unknown mother (Deceased), Unknown father (Deceased), Alicia Powers (Wife; Mentor)

Dreams: To have a family with Alicia and to possibly travel the world when it's safe.

Any other important information: He's been with Alicia for two years, and is married to her. He is the main person who trains the ranger's fighting skills, along with his new assistant and protege Maya.

 **Created By: Impala67 (Guest)**

Name: Viola Reyna Thomas

Nickname: Vi

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Sexuality: Homosexual

Actor/Actress Portrayal: G. Hannelius

Clothes: Black T-shirt with the graphic word 'REBEL' in white, black skinny jeans, black high top converse with white laces, and small circle glasses on her face.

Personality: Vi is very bubbly and talkative. She is very open to making new friends, going out of her way to not only be cheerful for others, but to make them cheerful as well. She tends to be a voice of reason for her friends.

Backstory: Vi is Alicia's intern, and has helped her create a lot of new things for the rangers, though did not help in the process of making the morphers or the zords. She lives with her Uncle and Aunt after her parents left the country for an exploration trip in Egypt after Vi's 16th birthday.

Family: Dr. Olivia Thomas (Mother), Dr. Bradley Thomas (Father), Frank Thomas (Uncle), Betty Thomas (Aunt), Emma Thomas (Cousin)

Dreams: To become a professional dancer.

Any other important information: Vi knows karate for self-defense. She can also dance to many different styles, and has been dancing since the young age of three.

 **Created By: ICrzy**

Name: Maya Nicole Stone

Nickname: None

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Sexuality: Bisexual

Actor/Actress Portrayal: Kelli Berglund

Clothes: A black and blue plaid shirt either on or tied around her waist, black tank top on top, black skinny jeans, and black boots.

Personality: Maya is pretty wise for her years but usually doesn't share that side of her. Maya is a bit too closed off to reveal personal subjects in her life. She is pretty sassy and a huge smart-aleck, Maya is a bit of a rebel and likes to bend the rules. Though she is honest and always there when it counts.

Backstory: When she was five, her mom died in a car accident and it crushed her dad. Her parents were high school sweethearts. For the most part in Maya's life she grew up without a mom figure, so she grew up as a tomboy. Real tough around the edges but emotionally complicated in the inside. Maya got involved in boxing to get her out of trouble when she was in middle school, and she actually enjoys it. When Maya turned twelve her dad started dating another women, and when Maya turned fifteen they got married. At first Maya was against the marriage but soon accepted it.

Family: Martha Stone (mom/deceased), Kevin Lynch (dad), and Sally Stone (stepmom).

Dreams: Maya is always amazing when it comes to expressing words on paper, so her dream is to become a writer. Either an author or a poet. She writes amazing poems and even imaginative short stories.

Any other information: Maya loves to write, whether it be poetry or just short stories. She does well in her English classes that she is put in AP English.

 **Keep in mind that these are only characters that are rangers, or mentor-type allies, that are in the story so far. If you want to see other allies or civilian bios, or just want to see future characters, go to my wiki, the link is in my bio! Keep in mind that there are SPOILERS on there, so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!**

 **Also, check out my other story, Power Rangers: Guardians of the Galaxy, if you please!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	2. Prologue

**All info will be in the first and next chapter.**

 **Terra is portrayed by Katie Leclerc**

 **Riana is portrayed by Mila Kunis**

 **Julie is portrayed by Cierra Ramirez**

 **Valcon is portrayed by Mark Sheppard**

 **Jamie is portrayed by Chord Overstreet**

* * *

Arachne 'Terra' Webb stood tall as she looked down from the Animali ship towards Earth. She walked back into the throne room where she sat down gracefully and looked over to both her sides, Riana on one side and Julie on the other.

"Terra, please!" Riana cried. "You're not evil!" Riana was 5'8 with black hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a light red dress that came to her knees and black flats. She was also tied up.

Terra snapped her head over towards her, her long red hair flipping and her piercing pitch black eyes glaring daggers at her cousin. Terra had a web around the bottom of her eye to the middle of her cheek. She wore a shimmery black corset with spider web patterns going all around, a black leather jacket and matching fingerless gloves, black leggings, and black wedge boots.

Terra laughed. "You're an idiot, Riana, and you have been since the day you were born. I was always evil, I just wanted to stick around to see what would happen with the rangers, but seeing as nothing did," She shrugged. "I left, and took two hostages with me."

"What are you gonna do?" Riana asked.

"Take over the world, what do you think?" Terra stood up and looked around. "This place is not too much to my liking, and this is not an outfit fit for a queen."

She snapped her fingers and her outfit turned into a long, floor length dress with the same corset as the top, and a long sheer black cape that was so long it dragged on the floor about a foot and a half behind her. She had black heels on and a large stringy looking black crown. The throne room also changed to have a multitude of spider webs and many pictures of herself.

"Not to insult your greatness, 'Queen,'" Julie rolled her eyes. "But how are you gonna take over the world with no army?" Julie was 5'1 with brown hair and eyes, and a tan complexion. She wore a thin white dress and no shoes. She was also tied up.

Terra glared at her. "Oh trust me, I have an army." She snapped her fingers again, and the door to the throne room opened, allowing four generals to walk in. The two girls gasped.

Lirx, Veenom, Valcon, and even Jamie were standing in the room. "Meet my generals."

"Jamie?" Julie asked, frowning deeply. Jamie was Julie's brother, and Valcon's son. The boy had died in the labyrinth from a Cerberus scratching him deeply across the chest, and he was never evil.

Jamie smirked. He was 6'0 with blonde hair and blue eyes, looking nothing like his sister or father, but they were shapeshifters, and generally never looked alike. "Hey, Julie, how's it going little sister?"

"Lirx?" Riana said sadly, knowing he wasn't truly evil.

Lirx scoffed and said nothing to her.

"How are they here, Terra?" Julie growled.

Terra shrugged with a smirk. "I simply resurrected them after I realized my rightful ways."

Riana rolled her eyes. "Your rightful ways? This isn't your rightful way! Terrible put a spell on you that was activated when he died! He knew it would come to eventually, and he knew you would carry on his way! He's manipulating you!"

"He's dead, Riana. He can't manipulate me. This is who I am." Terra shook her head. "Stop denying it."

"Never. I know who you are on the inside, and it's not evil." Riana said. "Why don't you stop denying it?"

Terra went up to her and grabbed her by the face extremely fast. "Don't you dare talk back to me. You know nothing. NOTHING!" She shoved her away and turned to the generals. "Take them away."

"As you wish, my Queen." They said in unison as Jamie and Valcon went to grab Julie and Lirx and Veenom went to get Riana. They took them out of the room, despite their protests.

Terra huffed and sat down in what was now her throne. She snapped her fingers and a viewing screen lowered from the ceiling in front of her. On it was a live video feed of Welch County.

"Have fun for now, because soon you'll all be dead." Terra growled.

* * *

 **So this is only the prologue guys, the real first chapter is the next one, which I just uploaded so you should be able to see it.**

 **Like I said above, all the information for this story is going to be in the next chapter.**

 **Also, if you reviewed on chapter two or three when I had posted the winners, you may not be able to review again if you are a member. If that's the case, just put your review for both this and the next chapter on the page you didn't review on, due to Fanfiction's one review policy.**

 **Thanks guys!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	3. Ep 1: Guardians Arise! Part I

**Hey guys, it's finally here! The first chapter of Power Rangers: Animal Guardians is here!**

 **I would like to thank all who submitted characters to me and if you would like to see the current characters as of this point, look at the first chapter. Keep in mind that those are only the characters that are in since the chapter I am on, which happens to be the first, and is also only rangers and mentor-like allies, not friends or anything. If you wanna see those, feel free to go on my wiki page, the link is in my profile, but keep in mind I am still editing at that there may be SPOILERS so read at YOUR OWN RISK.**

 **And as always, I am aware that most of my views are from teenagers and people that are more mature than the usual Power Rangers stuff. My story will keep some of the childishness of Power Rangers, but will also have things for my more mature audience.**

 **Geo is portrayed by Noah Centineo**

 **Roger is portrayed by Tyrel Jackson Williams**

 **Cal is portrayed by Ava Sambora**

 **Alicia is portrayed by Alecia Moore (P!nk)**

 **Ben is portrayed by Charlie Hunnam**

 **Vi is portrayed by G. Hannelius**

 **Chris is portrayed by Tyler James Williams**

 **Eli is portrayed by Andrew Garfield**

 **Robby is portrayed by Josh Peck**

 **Also, tell me what you think about the cover photo, I personally think it turned out a lot better than I thought it would.**

* * *

A very classy black van drove down the road from a very large, fancy white house up on a hill on the edge of Welch County. Inside of the car in the passenger seat was Hershel Deekins, and next to him in the driver's seat was his older brother Chris.

Both young men had a dark complexion, with dark brown hair and eyes. Chris was a bit taller, standing at 5'8 as opposed to Hershel's 5'7, and had a more mature face. Hershel was wearing a black hoodie, over a white t-shirt and blue jeans, and was wearing black work-type boots. Around his neck was a pendant with a bear on it that was strung on a black rope. Chris was wearing something resembling a doctor's uniform, due to the fact that he was in medical school.

Chris glanced over at his brother, finding him writing in a small notebook. He raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing, Hershel?" He teased.

He rolled his eyes. "It's Roger." He corrected his brother in annoyance, not even looking up from his book. "Why don't you focus on driving, I'd rather not die today."

Chris scoffed. "Have I ever crashed the car?" He asked, pulling up to a red light.

"No," Roger said. "That's because you're the perfect child." He added under his breath, continuing to write in his notebook as the light turned green and his brother continued to drive.

"So, what are you writing about?"

Roger sighed loudly, closing his notebook and looking up at his brother. "Why are you so nosy this morning?"

"Just making sure you know where your priorities are at, that's all." Chris told him. "Do you know how important junior year is to the rest of your life?"

Roger nodded. "You've told me many times before. Junior year is majorily what determines if colleges are going to except you or not, and..."

"And you can't go to law school without a good education." Chris finished for him.

Roger rolled his eyes once more. "Chris, you're not even in law school, calm down."

"No, I'm in medical school, trying to become a brain surgeon, so don't act like I'm not doing anything." Chris retorted, stopping in front of Welch County High to drop his brother off.

"I never said you weren't doing anything," Roger argued, stepping out of the car with his backpack slung over one shoulder. "I just think you're doing too much." He closed the door and walked off, Chris looking after him for a moment before shaking his head and driving away.

Roger smiled as he walked into the school. Despite being a bit angry over his brother harassing him about his work, he had many plans for this year to make sure he could get into a good college. As for law school, he wasn't completely sure.

He passed by the newly installed hockey rink where a few boys were messing around on the ice. One of the boys, a tall, slender boy, standing at about 6'0, with tan skin, brown hair and eyes, moved out of the way of his friend's antics, not wanting to get hit by one of the blades on the bottoms of their skates. He was wearing a hooded, long sleeved red shirt, blue jeans, and converse. He also wore a black beanie on his head and a red bandanna tied around his wrist. Along with all of that, he had an pedant with an eagle on it strung on a black rope around his neck.

"Hey, guys be careful!" He called. "Eli, Robby come on!"

The two stopped wrestling around and Eli chuckled. "Geo, it's fine, we're just having a little fun." Eli was 5'10 with light brown hair and brown eyes, while Robby was 6'0 with black hair and blue eyes.

"I know," Geo nodded. "But what if one of you got hit with the blade? I just don't want you guys to get hurt."

Eli put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll be fine." He smiled brightly at the two. "I just cannot wait until hockey tryouts!"

"Me either, man, it's gonna be great!" Robby agreed, practically jumping with excitement. "Do you think we'll make it?"

Eli shrugged. "I don't know about me, but I know Geo's gonna make it, Mr. Perfect over here!" He squeezed Geo's shoulder in an excited encouragement.

Geo blushed. "Oh, I'm not sure about that." He said as the three carefully left the rink and sat down to take off their skates. Geo nearly slipped and Eli caught him. "You alright, man?"

Geo was flustered and quickly pulled himself out of his grasp, earning him a strange look. He chuckled nervously. "Yea.. yeah." He nodded and sat down, quickly unlacing his skates.

The three put their blade guards on their skates and hooked them onto their backpacks before leaving the room. "Were we even supposed to be in there?" Robby questioned the two.

Eli laughed. "Probably not, but oh well." As the three were walking, Eli bumped into a girl staring at her schedule. She dropped her things and sighed. Eli frowned. "Watch where you're going." He muttered. Geo looked back at the girl, feeling bad as he watched her pick up her things.

"Hey, did you two get your schedules?" Robby asked, having seen the girl's schedule in her hands. The two shook their heads. "You should. I already got mine when I got here."

"That's probably a good idea." Geo agreed. The three came stopped at a wall where there was a sign directing people around. It was organized by last name, A-D, E-L, M-S, T-Z. He sighed. "I guess this goodbye for now, fellas." He turned to Robby. "You gonna go with him?" He asked, gesturing to Eli.

Robby nodded. "Sorry, Geo, it's just that we signed up for the same class and I wanna see if we got in."

Geo shrugged half-heartedly. "It's fine, I'll see you guys later."

"Alright, bye Geo!" The two took off in the other direction.

Geo sighed and began walking over to the table to get his schedule. Roger was also there, and was standing there, looking at his schedule in shock. "What the hell is this?" He stormed back over to the table as Geo was telling the ladies behind it his name. "Excuse me, I have a complaint."

The ladies and Geo looked over at Roger. Then, one of them went looking for Geo's schedule while the other listened to Roger. "I don't understand why I was put into AP biology, when I clearly signed up for AP sociology. How am I ever going to get into law school with AP bio?"

"I'm sorry, but schedule changes are being limited this year to students with specific problems with teachers, learning, and things like that. Just because you don't like the class your in, doesn't mean it'll be changed." The woman told him, not unkindly.

Roger groaned irritatedly. Geo patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, man, I got into the same class."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Great, so I'm in a class with Mr. Perfect." He said as Geo began to walk away.

Geo halted in his stride for a moment, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath before continuing to walk away. He really hated the name his friends had jokingly called him one day, which soon spread around. He was planning to meet back up with his friends, but the bell rang and he sighed. His first period just so happened to be the class he had with Roger.

"Great." He muttered under his breath. "Just great."

~PRAG~

Despite being the first day of school, Viola Thomas wasn't there. In fact, she was on the outskirts of town inside of a large, stunning building with a black exterior, large windows, and large dark brown double doors. Despite the dark appearance on the outside, the inside was was a very sleek, classy design with light colors and many lights.

Viola was working tirelessly on the computer, not keeping track of time. Viola was a small girl, only about 5'3 and was very skinny. She had a youthful face, dirty blonde hair, and brown eyes. She was wearing a black graphic t-shirt with the word _'REBEL'_ printed in white letters across the front, black skinny jeans, and black high top converse with white laces. On her face she wore a pair of small frame circle glasses.

"Vi," Alicia Haynes, Vi's boss for her internship, poked her head in through the doorway. "You're late for school." Alicia was very beautiful, she had a slim figure and stood at about 5'6, had dyed white hair that was very short, and had blue contacts over all white besides the pupil, eyes. She wore a tight black tank top that tied in the front like a corset, black skinny jeans, and black boots.

Vi jumped, not expecting her so suddenly. She pulled out her phone and checked the time. "Oh shoot, you're right!" Flustered, she jumped up from her seat, not even bothering to turn off her computer, and shoved her phone into her pocket before grabbing her backpack off of the floor. She stopped for a moment, looking around in exasperation.

Alicia frowned. "What?"

"I don't have a car, how am I gonna get to school?" Vi groaned, falling back dramatically into her chair.

Alicia pulled car keys out of her pocket. "Come on, I'll give you a ride." Vi jumped up happily and followed her. "So, how and when did you get here? I assume your uncle didn't get up early enough to bring you here."

"He didn't, Emma drove me at 5-ish." Vi responded as she got into the large Ford pickup truck. "Who's truck is this anyways? Not that it's bad, but it doesn't seem like your style."

"It's not, and it's Ben's. Well, it's _ours_ but, really Ben picked it out so," Alicia shrugged. They were silent for a moment. "What were you working on?"

Vi looked out the window. "You know what."

"I don't presume you were messing with the morphers, were you?" Alicia asked, not accusingly. Obviously she would be upset is Vi was indeed working on edits on the morphers, but it was likely that even if Vi was indeed working on them, that she had done something right. Vi was extremely intelligent, and that's only one of the reasons Alicia had brought her in the intern for her. It was, of course, a paid internship, even though Vi had many times declined wanting the money.

Vi shook her head. "Of course not, I would never do such a thing." She turned to look at the older woman. "I was trying to possibly locate Terra, Riana, or any of the rangers, but it's very hard when you have nothing to track any of them on. I mean, I tried the pendants, of course, for the rangers, but I was unfortunately unsuccessful."

Alicia sighed. "I figured, but there may be some good news."

Vi smiled. "Really? What?"

"I believe the rangers are students at WCHS, so you may be able to find them. There should be two males, and a female." Alicia told her as she pulled up outside of the school. "I know you'll be able to find them, I believe in you Vi. I really do."

Vi smiled sweetly. "Thanks, Alicia. That means a lot."

~PRAG~

Geo sat down in the back of the class, not only wanting to be away from most people, but away from Roger as well. The teacher wrote her name on the board.

"Alright, students, my name is Mrs. Odem, but you may recognize me as Ms. Chak. I have since gotten married," She showed off her large diamond ring to the class. "And have my husband's last name. I will be your AP Biology teacher for the year. Now, I know it's a bit early, but I'll start out by calling role, but luckily there are no tardies for the first week, so when you come in I will just mark you present."

As she began to read off the names, Geo saw Roger talking to a friend in the front of the class. Mrs. Odem got irritated fairly quickly and stopped her heel onto the tile floor, getting their attention. "I am trying to call role, and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't talk." She scolded. "Now, for the last time, is Callie Campbell here?"

"Yes," A girl said as she opened the door a bit hesitantly, trying not to draw attention to herself. "I'm Callie Campbell, but you can call me Cal." She said with a small smile.

Mrs. Odem nodded. "Alright, Cal, there seems to be a seat open in the back next to the boy in red. Why don't you sit there?"

Cal nodded and walked quickly through the rows of seats as people stared at her and sat down just as quick. Geo looked over at her. She was a very beautiful and small girl, standing at 5'3 with pale skin, long blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. She wore a loose tank top type blouse with button tucked into a mid-thigh black skirt, a light denim jacket, and black boots. She also had a pendant similar to Geo and Roger's strung on a black rope with a gorilla on it.

Suddenly, Geo recognized her as the girl Eli had roughly bumped into in the halls. Before he could say something, Mrs. Odem called out, "Gregory Costello?"

"Here!" Geo called. "You can call me Geo, if you please."

Mrs. Odem wrote that down next to his name to remember. She then called out, "Hershel Deekins?"

A few students chuckled. "It's Roger." Roger muttered from the front.

"What was that?" She asked, having not heard him.

"It's Roger." He said louder, and angrier.

Mrs. Odem gave him a look, and he knew she didn't like his tone of voice, though he hardly cared.

Meanwhile, Geo tapped Cal on the arm. She wasn't paying attention to him, was startled by this sudden gesture, and jumped slightly in her seat. She looked over at Geo with a seemingly nervous look on her face. "Yeah?" She whispered.

"I'm sorry." Geo said.

Cal frowned. She didn't know what he was talking about, and was beginning to feel a bit of anxiety. "For what?"

"My friend, Eli, he bumped into you in the hallway, and you fell. He was being a jerk, and you didn't deserve that, so I'm sorry." Geo answered. "I'm also sorry I didn't stop to help you, and I feel also slightly at fault here."

"Oh," Cal gave a small smile, her level of anxiety going down slightly. "It's fine, it happens."

"Well, it shouldn't, especially to someone who doesn't deserve it." Geo told her, returning the small smile. "I'm Geo, by the way."

"I'm Cal," She responded, then felt a slight pang of anxiety again. "You probably already knew that though, I'm sorry."

Geo chuckled. "You're fine, it's not a big deal."

Cal gave another small smile and turned back to the front of the class. "I think she likes you, Mr. Perfect." Roger whispered from behind Geo as he had to switch seats with the other boy sitting next to Geo because he was interrupting Mrs. Odem too much.

Geo frowned. That was not even close to what he was trying to do, instead just trying to be friendly and apologize for something he had thought was wrong. He also didn't particularly care for Roger's attitude, or the boy himself, and didn't quite have the patience to deal with him. He chose to ignore him.

"You think she's cute?" Roger prodded, poking Geo's arm in a teasing manner. "Good work, Mr. Perfect."

Geo smacked Roger's hand away. He was quickly getting fed up with Roger. "Don't touch me."

Roger put his hands up in a mock surrender. "Jeez, Mr. Perfect's a bit on edge today."

"Don't call me that, either," Geo growled. "I have a name."

"Mr. Perfect is a name too." Roger pointed out with a smirk.

"Yeah, but it's sure as hell not my name." Geo retorted with a venom in his voice Roger hadn't heard in the few years he had known the boy.

Roger put his hands up again in surrender, but not to irritate Geo further. "Alright, calm down."

Geo huffed and turned towards the front of the class, Cal on his left and Roger on his right. The three didn't notice their pendants glowing faintly in red for Geo, black for Roger, and blue for Cal.

~PRAG~

As Alicia pulled away from the school, she noticed something she didn't particularly like. She saw Chimera, the foot soldiers of the Animali race, stalking around the school. She hadn't seen these creatures in two years, and they still looked the same as they had before. They were a mix of two or more animals combined, none of them looking exactly alike, and they all had swords that could easily turn into blasters.

"This isn't good." She whispered as she turned off the truck, pulled out the keys, and stepped out.

She stared for a few moments, trying to figure out what was going on. She heard a honk that startled her out of her stupor.

"Hey, lady, move your truck!" A man yelled out his window as his car was behind the truck.

Suddenly, a blast stopped any response Alicia could've come up with. Alicia turned around to hear screams and see the Chimera blast a hole through the wall. The man screamed and cut across a few lanes of traffic to get away, all of a sudden not caring about Alicia or her truck.

"Damn it." She whispered under her breath. "I really hope I find the new rangers."

She then quickly took off towards the school.

~PRAG~

Meanwhile, inside the classroom, Chimera filled in, most pointing blasters at the kids, though some held their swords up. Some people were crying and the teacher looked horrified.

She had remembered when she was a new teacher, two years ago, and the Chimera had broken in to attempt to kill everyone, though it hadn't worked.

Cal put her hands up as a Chimera came near her and grabbed her out of her chair and began dragging her away.

"Let her go!" Geo exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. Everyone, including the Chimera, looked over at him in shock. No one thought anyone would stand up to these monsters.

The Chimera let out a garbled laughed and ran out of the room with Cal. "Stop!" Geo made a split second decision and ran after her.

Geo jumped out of the way of a blast coming towards him and kicked the Chimera's feet out from under it, and was quick to catch Cal as she was thrown into the air in the process.

He put her down and looked her over. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "What the hell are those things?"

"I have no idea," Geo responded as more filled in the hallway. The two backed up a bit. "Cal, we have to fight them."

"What?! Are you crazy?!" Cal exclaimed, her eyes growing wide with fear.

"If we don't fight them, we die, Cal! That's how it is!" He said, a bit fearful himself.

Cal took in a shaky breath and nodded. "Alright."

The two ran towards the Chimera bravely. Geo ducked out of the way of a sword, and punched the Chimera in the chest, knocking it into a wall of lockers nearby. He grabbed another one and spun it towards the same place, and it flew out of his hands and landed on top of the other one, which was attempting to stand.

Cal let out a little squeal as she ducked under a blast, and then swept out the feet of the Chimera, knocking it to the ground. Cal made a risky decision and picked up the blaster that had fallen to the ground and quickly pointed it at the Chimera.

"How does this thing even work?" She questioned, and as if on cue, she found the right button and blasted a Chimera back pretty far. She let out a gasp, and saw Geo look over with wide eyes.

Geo was struggling a bit, however, and was quickly knocked on his back by a kick to the side. As he attempted to get up, a Chimera menacingly walked towards him with it's sword raised. Geo halted in his actions and watched in horror as the Chimera came closer. He closed his eyes and held up his arms in defense as the Chimera swung it's sword down, however, Geo didn't feel anything.

He heard the metal of the sword collide with something, though it wasn't his body. He opened his eyes to see none other than Roger holding his ice skate as a weapon against the sword. He watched as Roger threw the sword from the Chimera's hands and bashed it with the blade of the skate before turning back to him.

He offered his hand to help Geo up, and he took it. Roger handed him his other skate. "I figured you could use some help."

Geo nodded in thanks and the two stood back to back to fight off the Chimera. Cal soon joined them and the three formed a triangle as Cal shot the monsters, and Geo and Roger hit them back with the skates.

Unfortunately, the three soon began to tire, and Cal's blaster was no longer working, so she was forced to hit the Chimera with it as she was unaware of how to turn it into a sword.

The three were quickly knocked back to the ground and they scooted back until their backs were pressed hard against the wall. They looked on in horror as the Chimera inched closer to them, blasters and swords pointed at them.

Suddenly, a woman flipped over the Chimera and landed in front of them. This woman was none other than Alicia.

"Back off!" She growled, running towards the monsters.

She kicked one back and flipped off of it to land on another's shoulders. She gripped the head with her feet and did a back flip, landing gracefully on the ground as the Chimera was slammed down. She grabbed one by the arm and spun it around, knocking down many around her before she threw it to the side.

While this was going on, Vi ran over to the three still huddled together on the floor. "You guys okay?" She asked, helping them up.

Geo looked over the two and himself and nodded. "Yeah, I think so. What hell is going on? Who are you, and who is she?"

Vi looked around nervously, not really knowing what to say until she saw that the three's pendants were glowing faintly around their necks. "Oh my God." She turned back, seeing Alicia flip the last Chimera over her and slam it hard into the ground before turning towards Vi, who seemed to be in awe. Vi walked quickly over and whispered something in her ear, and Alicia's eyes widened.

Alicia walked over to the three teens, who were watching the two warily. "Where did you guys get those pendants?" She asked.

They looked surprised and looked down, even more surprised to find their pendants glowing. "I got mine from my mother." Geo answered, staring at the glowing pendant.

Roger and Cal were also staring at theirs. "I got it from my father."

Cal nodded slightly. "Same." She whispered in shock.

"This may sound crazy, but you have to come with us." Alicia said, gesturing to herself and Vi. "It's really important."

~PRDS~

Ben was sitting in the living room drinking coffee when Alicia, Vi, and three teens he didn't know walked in. Ben stood up. He was quite tall, standing at 6'1 with blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a plain white t-shirt, blue jeans, and black tennis shoes.

"What's going on?" Ben was originally from England, and despite coming over to the US before he was even a year old, he still spoke with an English accent.

Alicia pulled him aside as Vi led the three to the couch. "There were Chimera at the high school, and..."

"Are you alright?" He asked, interrupting her to look her over.

She nodded. "I'm fine, not even a scratch, but that's not important." She gestured to the teenagers. "Those three are the rangers."

Ben looked stunned. "What? No way."

Alicia nodded again. "I saw their pendants. They are the guardians."

"So what can I do to help?" Ben asked, looking over at the three.

Alicia shrugged. "I don't think you can do anything yet, but if I do need something, I'll tell you for sure."

Ben nodded. "Okay, I'll go wait in the kitchen with Ginger, but if you need anything..."

"I'll tell you," Alicia smiled, kissing his cheek. "Now go."

Ben left the room and Alicia walked back over to the room. "So, you brought us here for what exactly?" Roger asked, raising an eyebrow.

Alicia sighed. "Okay, look, two years ago, I assume you three saw the monsters and the power rangers that stopped them, right?" They nodded. "Well they were chosen because of a curse that was put on them because of a half-human/half-alien hybrid that lived among us for many years. The thing is, when the powers were made, it was unclear if they would work properly, if at all, so we made other powers, but they were lost, and then the powers did work so we didn't exactly think we needed them. But then, the aliens came back, and morphers were made to accommodate the powers that were lost as they were sort of located."

"What does this have to do with us?" Geo asked.

"Those pendants have bonded with you, and those pendants are the key to the power of the animal guardians, or you three." Alicia said.

Cal was the first to put two and two together. "You're say you want us to be power rangers?"

Alicia nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. You three are the only ones who can do it. So what do you say? Will you three become power rangers?"

* * *

 **Continued in Part 2!**

 **Are you upset I left you on a cliffhanger? Sorry, but I enjoy the suspense. As I said in the prologue, if you reviewed this chapter when it had announced the winners and you are not a guest, you will have to put your review for this in the prologue and vise-versa.**

 **Thank you so so much to everyone who gave me powers, and I hope I did justice to the characters so far, even though it's only the first chapter.**

 **If you like it, tell me what you like so far, if you don't, tell me what I can do to improve! I'm always up for suggestions on ways that'll make this** **story more appealing for you guys!**

 **Also, I know I'm a day late, but Sundays will be the main day I update this story, though I may be a bit off at times.**

 **See you guys next Sunday!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	4. Ep 2: Guardians Arise! Part 2

**Hey guys, sorry I'm a week late! If you read my other story, Power Rangers: Data Surge, you'll already know this, but last weekend was my birthday, and I was busy all weekend. Not only that, but I've been having some pretty severe emotional problems, and have been having problems with that as well. I'm back now, though, so let's get into it!**

 **Ginger is portrayed by Danneel Ackles**

* * *

 **Previously on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

Ben left the room and Alicia walked back over to the room. "So, you brought us here for what exactly?" Roger asked, raising an eyebrow.

Alicia sighed. "Okay, look, two years ago, I assume you three saw the monsters and the power rangers that stopped them, right?" They nodded. "Well they were chosen because of a curse that was put on them because of a half-human/half-alien hybrid that lived among us for many years. The thing is, when the powers were made, it was unclear if they would work properly, if at all, so we made other powers, but they were lost, and then the powers did work so we didn't exactly think we needed them. But then, the aliens came back, and morphers were made to accommodate the powers that were lost as they were sort of located."

"What does this have to do with us?" Geo asked.

"Those pendants have bonded with you, and those pendants are the key to the power of the animal guardians, or you three." Alicia said.

Cal was the first to put two and two together. "You're say you want us to be power rangers?"

Alicia nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. You three are the only ones who can do it. So what do you say? Will you three become power rangers?"

 **Now**

The three looked amongst each other, not saying anything.

Alicia sat down in a chair near them and sighed. "I know this is a lot to take in, but a decision has to be made. Those creatures will be back, and you three are the only ones that can stop them."

"Oh yeah, no pressure there." Roger rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but it's true. No one else can do it, the pendants have already bonded with you." Alicia responded.

"What if we're not good enough?" Cal asked, frowning.

Geo felt a pang of sadness in his chest at her question. It was true - they might not be good enough to do it. If he couldn't do it, what was the point? Failure was not an option here, and he had almost been killed today.

"Fighting with a ranger suit is a lot different than fighting without it. You'll get good fast with it, and my husband Ben will teach you how to be good without it. I can't promise that you'll never get hurt, and I can't really promise anything close to that, but its worth it to save the world, trust me on that."

"We don't really have a choice do we?" Roger asked.

Alicia sighed. "You do, but if you choose not to, a lot of people will get hurt."

"I'll try it, but that's a not guarantee that I'll stay." Roger said.

"That's all I can ask, thank you." Alicia smiled, handing him a morpher, which was similar to a watch, and had a slot in the side of it. "You are the black ranger with the power of the bear, and to morph, you put your pendant in there."

"I'll do it too." Cal nodded.

Alicia handed her a morpher as well. "You are the blue ranger with the power of the gorilla."

Everyone looked to Geo now, wondering what he was thinking. "I'll try, but like Roger said, no promises."

Alicia smiled brightly as she handed the final morpher to Geo. "You are the red ranger with the power of the eagle." She looked at all of them. "I know this is hard, but I hope you all choose to stay."

They said nothing. Roger was the first to stand. "Well, I'm gonna call my brother to pick me up. Bye." He left.

Cal and Geo sat on the couch a bit uncomfortably. "Do you two have any way to get home?"

"My mom is at work." Cal responded.

"Same." Geo nodded.

"I can give you guys a lift, if you'd like," Alicia offered. She turned to Vi. "You too."

Vi shook her head. "No, no, no; I'll stay here."

"Vi..." Alicia sighed.

"She should stay here, Alicia." A new voice responded. It was none other than Ginger. She was a bit tall, standing at 5'7 with auburn hair and brown eyes. She wore a maroon cardigan over a white tank top, blue jean capri's, and black flats. "I need her help."

"With what exactly?" Alicia raised her eyebrow.

Ginger shrugged. "I just do. Come on, Vi."

"Vi, don't." Alicia put her hands on her hips.

Vi gestured to Ginger. "Sorry, Alicia, Ginger needs me." Ginger chuckled and led her off towards the other room.

Alicia sighed loudly in exasperation. "Alright guys, come on. I'll take you home."

~PRAG~

"Are you alright?" Chris asked when they got home. They hadn't talked very much on the car ride back, though it was obvious Chris was concerned for his brother.

Roger shrugged. "I guess."

"What the hell happened, anyway? You weren't involved were you?" Chris asked as they both got out of the car. Roger didn't respond as he unlocked the front door. "Roger, talk to me! I'm your brother, you can tell me."

Roger opened the door and turned around irritatedly. "Why are you asking so many questions? I'm fine, alright. Get off my back, Chris."

Chris frowned. "Roger, I'm just trying to be a good brother. I don't see what your problem is."

"Yeah, you never do because you're amazing at everything." Roger snapped, storming through the fancy house and up to his room where he locked the door and huffed as he sat down at his desk.

He proceeded to pull out a notebook and flipped through it. Almost all of the pages were filled with not only ideas for writing, but writing itself. He had always kept his various notebooks away from his family, knowing they wouldn't approve of his passion for writing.

He quickly located a blank page and began to write out his feelings.

Downstairs, Chris sighed as he sat down at the kitchen table, feeling a headache come on as it had been happening lately after encounters like that with his brother. He knew part of his brother's problem, but he couldn't help his own success, and he wasn't going to jeopardize it for his brother to be happy.

He stood up and walked over to the couch to lay down. He had been studying a lot lately, and decided he might as well take a break to sleep.

~PRAG~

When Cal arrived home, she found her mother waiting for her with a worried expression on her face.

"Oh, Cal, you're here!" Rebecca Campbell stood and quickly engulfed her daughter in a hug. She had tears streaming down her face as she buried it into her daughter's shoulder. Rebecca had blonde hair and blue eyes identical to her daughter, and was only a bit taller than her at 5'5. She wore a very professional outfit - a black blazer over a white blouse that was tucked into a black waist-high pencil skirt and black heels.

"Hi, mom." Cal hugged her mother back tightly.

Her mom pulled back while still holding her shoulders as she looked her over. "Are you alright? I was worried sick!"

Cal nodded. "I'm okay, I promise."

Rebecca moved her hands to grasp her daughter's face. She tilted her head down and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Thanks, mom." Cal smiled.

Rebecca looked over at a picture of her late husband. "I was so worried."

Cal followed her mother's glance and her heart ached at the picture of her father. "Don't worry, mom. Nothing will happen to us. I promise."

She held a teary smile. "You have your father's heart."

Cal touched the pendant around her neck, tears also forming in her eyes, "Thank you so much, mom."

~PRAG~

Geo wasn't surprised to find that when he arrived home, his mother wasn't there. She worked as a nurse at the local hospital, and since there was an attack, she must have been busier than ever.

He shut the door behind him and set his things by the door with a sigh. He walked into the small living room and grabbed a book called 'A Killer In My Head' by Sipho M . Simelane off of the shelf.

He sat down in a nearby chair and began to read when the phone rang. He sighed and put his book face down, open to his page, and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" He said.

 _"Geo? Are you alright?"_ It was his mother, Ashley Costello, calling from the hospital.

"Yeah, I'm okay, mom." Geo nodded even though she couldn't see him.

 _"I heard about the attack at the school; there are so many students here that are hurt - it's unbelievable."_ His mother told him. _"I was so worried when I hadn't heard from you."_

Geo smiled fondly. "I'm alright, really. Is Eli or Robby there?" He asked, wondering about his friends. He hadn't seen or heard from them since before school even started.

 _"I don't think so. I don't see any of your friends here, thank goodness."_

Geo sighed in relief. "That's great. What time do you think you'll be home?"

He heard Ashley sigh from the other end. _"Probably not for a while. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you got home, but because of the attack on the school, they called me in even earlier than usual. Tomorrow I'll leave around four like usual and make you dinner, but I left a few bucks on the table for you to go out and grab something for today."_

Geo chuckled. "You, my mother, gave me money for fast food?"

 _"Not necessarily fast food. You could go to the store and buy a salad or something."_ She corrected.

"Alright, thanks mom. I'll see you tomorrow, I'm guessing," Geo said.

She sighed again. _"Probably. I'll be home past midnight. Alright, I have to go, but I love you, sweetie."_

"Love you too, mom." He smiled. "Bye." He put the phone down and went in the kitchen, finding a ten dollar bill on the table. He picked it up as he got another phone call, this time on his cellphone.

"Hello?" He answered.

 _"Geo?"_ It was Cal's voice coming through the line. He was a bit startled. He had no idea how she had gotten her number. _"Sorry to bother you, I know your friend Robby and asked him for your number. I was hoping we could all meet up."_

"All of us? Including Roger?" Geo asked.

 _"If that's not a problem. I think we should get to know each other a bit better."_

Geo sighed. "I guess, but I don't know how to get ahold of him."

Cal was silent for a moment. _"I'll figure it out, just meet me at Carlyle's Diner."_

"Alright." Geo pursed his lips. He wasn't really in the mood, but he wanted to be nice. "See you there."

~PRAG~

When Cal had called, Roger was a bit more than surprised, having never met her before that day and never given her his number. She told him she had gotten it from one of his friends, though it was still a bit strange.

He sighed and closed his notebook, having almost filled up an entire new page before she called. He put the notebook back in it's place and grabbed a few dollars out of his wallet before leaving his room and shutting the door behind him.

He walked downstairs, and was even more surprised to find his brother fast asleep on the couch. Chris rarely got much sleep, and was up most of the time studying, so it was very shocking for Roger.

He walked over to him and shook him by the shoulder. Chris' eyes opened a crack and peered up at him sleepily. "Can I borrow the car? I need to meet some friends to... study."

Chris nodded tiredly and gestured to the table where the keys were before turning over and going back to sleep. Roger frowned, but chose to ignore it as lack of sleep.

Roger left his house in the car and made his way over to Carlyle's, where he found Cal and Geo already waiting for him.

"Hey, Roger." Cal smiled as she offered him a seat, which he took.

"Hey." He responded as he sat. "So what is this about?"

Geo also looked to Cal as Roger said this. "Well, I was hoping now that we're a team..."

"We're not a team," Roger shook his head. "Not yet. I'm not sure if I have time for this, and even if I do, my brother's not just gonna let me leave whenever I want to."

"Same - about the time thing. I have hockey and school work, I'm not sure if this'll work out." Geo said.

Cal frowned. "But guys, we have to save the world. No other people can."

Roger rolled his eyes. "That's probably just something that lady said. We don't even know her - she could be some freak! I don't trust her."

"I highly doubt that." Geo muttered. "But I do agree about the fact that we don't know her. She could be lying."

"You don't know that." Cal scolded.

"Well you don't know that she's not." Roger retorted.

Suddenly, before anyone else could respond, their pendants began to warm up, and the morphers on their wrists beeped like a text message. Alicia's face appeared on the screen.

"There's a fight at forth and Pearl." Then, her face disappeared.

The three looked around and then quickly stood. They walked out of the diner before running towards the location. When they got there, they felt a little less than confident.

Standing before them was a group of Chimera standing menacingly in front of a monster that looked like a giant Panda, and held a bamboo stick as a weapon.

"What do we do?" Roger asked, looking over at Geo and Cal.

Just as he said that, their pendants began to glow and visions of what they had to do filled their heads.

Panda watched them with mild interest. She just wanted to destroy them and get it over with. She put her bamboo stick up in the air. "Destroy them!" She yelled. The Chimera began to run forward but were thrown back quickly when the three took their pendants off and held them up in the air, causing them to glow and release a surge of power.

"Animal Guardians, Arise!" They yelled in unison.

The new rangers brought the arm with the morpher up in front of the and quickly stuck the pendant in the slot, having the black rope being sucked in as well. They felt the surge of power go into them and overtake their bodies. Warm air surrounded them starting at their wrists and soon their whole bodies. They could see their suits forming like colored dust around them, red for Geo, black for Roger, and blue for Cal.

"Power of the Eagle!" Geo shouted, raising his fist in the air.

"Power of the Bear!" Roger yelled.

"Power of the Gorilla!" Cal yelled.

"Power Rangers," Something similar to an explosion occurred behind them in their individual colors. "Animal Guardians!"

The three looked at themselves in awe.

Geo had a red ranger suit with a complete white torso starting around his neck, shoulders, and waist as well as white cuffs around his gloves and boots. He had a bronze colored belt that cut off the white coloring around his waist that held an average size sword on the right and a blaster on the left. There was small bronze colored ring on each of his upper arms. His helmet had a silver mouth guard, black visor, and a bronze design of the face of an eagle. There was also a small circle on his the upper left side of his chest with eight colors in it - red, black, blue, yellow, pink, crimson, silver, and teal, in that order.

Roger had a black ranger suit that was similar to Geo's, though it had the face of a bear on his helmet instead of an eagle. He also had a sword and blaster hanging on his belt.

Cal's suit was blue, and also similar to Geo's, though her's had a white skirt that went to her upper thigh from her waist high belt and had a gorilla's face on her helmet rather than an eagle or bear. She had a sword and blaster as well.

"Are you guys ready for this?" Geo asked, looking at the two.

"No," Roger shook his head. "But, I'm already here so I might as well."

Cal nodded shakily.

"Alright. Let's do this!"

The three pulled out their swords and charged at the Chimera.

Geo jumped in and kicked and punched Chimera, even grabbing one of their swords and stabbing another in the head with it. One of the Chimera grabbed him by the waist but he shoved it off and threw it into a group of others. He grabbed another one of the Chimera and angrily threw it into a nearby car, setting off the alarm. "Sorry!" He yelled to the owner, though he or she was nowhere in sight. He grabbed one and flipped it hard onto the ground, smashing the ground and making ripples all around him, causing them to fall.

Roger flipped over a Chimera, kicking its head into the ground in the process before jumping back up and coming down to punch a Chimera hard in the chest. He grabbed one nearby and swung it around, smashing it into many others before throwing it to the side.

Cal jumped back as a Chimera swung its sword at her, then flipped backwards over one behind her, landing on one's shoulders. She gripped its head tight with her feet and did another flip to throw it to the ground before landing gracefully herself. Another one swung its sword at her and she caught it on her wrists. "Ah!" She winced as she felt the sword very clearly. She threw it back and kicked it in the chest.

"How do you use this thing?" Roger muttered looking around his blaster. He soon found the trigger and pulled it, unleashing a powerful blast that almost knock him down. "Whoa, that's strong!"

Cal watched him do as such, and pulled out her blaster as well. She knew how to use it due to her using the Chimera's blaster back at the school. She blasted a Chimera back, and chuckled nervously. "This thing is really powerful,"

Geo, meanwhile, decided to go straight in for Panda. He flipped over a Chimera and pulled his sword out. He brought it down on Panda's head, making her fall back. She growled and stood up, swinging her bamboo staff at him.

He ducked under it when it swung and his head and jumped when it swung at his feet. He then grabbed it as she tried to swing it at his torso and pulled it out of her hands. He snapped it over his knee and threw the two pieces to the side.

"You're gonna pay for that, you worthless human!" Panda yelled, slamming her foot down on the ground, sending shock waves across the ground and made him fall.

"Geo!" Cal cried as she and Roger ran over, helping him up.

Geo, Roger, and Cal stood in front of the alien, glaring. Cal and Roger had their blasters, and Geo had his sword.

"Ready?" Geo asked, looking at the two.

They nodded, and Cal and Roger shot a blast at the same time. Geo jumped up with his sword and slammed his sword into the blast, shooting it even faster at Panda, and hitting her straight on.

"No!" She cried out as she exploded from the impact.

The rangers stood in awe after it was over. They put their swords and blasters back in their holsters and was about to pull the small piece of string that held their pendants out of their morphers to demorph, but they suddenly disappeared in a flurry of what looked like colorful dust.

They reappeared in the same building as before.

"Welcome back to Ranger Ops!" Vi greeted them. "By the way, don't demorph in public, it's better to keep your identities secret."

Roger rolled his eyes. "'Ranger Ops?'"

"That's what I call this place. It's easier than saying 'Alicia and Ben's house.'"

Geo shook his head. "How did we get here, exactly? We were just in the middle of town!"

Vi chuckled and nodded. "I know. I transported you guys here."

"You did it!" Alicia exclaimed as she ran into the room. "You destroyed your first alien!" She hugged all three of them before backing away. "So, are you guys gonna stay?"

"Absolutely..." Cal nodded.

"... Not." Roger shook his head, taking off his pendant and morpher, offering it back to her. "I really don't have time for this. I would like to go to Harvard or something, and this isn't helping."

Geo took his off as well. "Yeah, I don't think I can do this either."

Alicia did not take the morphers or pendants. "Keep them. I can't give them to anyone else, and I have a feeling you'll change your mind."

Roger scoffed. "Good luck with that, and good luck with this whole thing. I'll see you guys around, I guess."

He put his morpher and pendant on and left, and Geo, without saying anything, slipped his pendant and morpher on before leaving as well. It was now only Vi, Alicia, and Cal.

Alicia put a hand on Cal's shoulder, seeing her look a bit nervous. "Don't worry, they'll be back. You'll be fine." She smiled. "In the meantime, let's get you caught up on current events."

~PRAG~

Meanwhile, on the Animali ship, Terra growled with fury and rage.

"There are new rangers?! How could this be?!" She screamed. She stormed pasted her generals and the rest of the army and over to the prison where Riana and Julie were. "Did you know about this?!"

"How did you not?" Riana rolled her eyes. "If you don't snap out of this, they're going to destroy you! It's a matter of time, Terra! See through my father's spell!"

Terra grabbed her arm through the grates in the door and pulled her towards her so her face was almost touching the door. "I don't care what you say. There is _no_ spell, and _I_ will be the one to destroy _them_ , not the other way around!"

She shoved her back to the ground. "You'll never win, Terra. Never!"

"We'll just have to see about that, won't we?" She cackled as she walked away.

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Cal, Vi, and Alicia try to convince Roger and Geo to help, though it may prove to be a challenge.

 **So, I'm not sure if I will be able to update this weekend due to Thanksgiving, which sucks because as you can tell I'm already behind on my writing, but I will try!**

 **Also, if you have time, please leave a review! I really didn't quite get the response I thought I would (though that might be because I overplay my writing a bit in my head), and I'm hoping that some more of you would leave a review for me! I do appreciate the reviews I did get, though, from DreamStar14 (Cal's creator), Ranger Red 2.0 (Robby's creator), and Impala67 (Vi's creator), so thank you guys so so much!**

 **Until next time!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	5. Ep 3: Coming Together

**Jeez, I kinda suck at getting chapters up on time, but in my defense, Thanksgiving and Black Friday were hectic and I was more focused on writing an important chapter for Power Rangers: Data Surge, my other original Power Rangers series in the works. And hey, at least I updated on a Sunday like I said I would!**

 **Oh well, here's the new chapter! This chapter's a bit fast paced after the beginning and a bit shorter than the other two, but I hope you guys like it anyway.**

* * *

"Cal, I'm leaving! Get up please!" Cal heard her mother's voice cut into her sleep.

"Alright!" She yelled back and heard the door slam closed. She groaned and sat up in bed, pushing the navy blue comforter off of her. She looked at the clock, and it read 6:30. She had a lot of time, and looked around her bedroom, wondering what to do.

Her bedroom was of average size and very neat. The walls were a very light baby blue, but the door, closet door, and ceiling were white. She had light brown dressers and a similar night stand. Her bed was a queen sized and was pushed up against the wall right next to a rather large window with white curtains. The window overlooked her backyard and the roof for the bottom floor came right up to her window.

She heard a light tapping sound and smiled as she opened the window. "Hi, Luna." She said, putting her hands out to pick up the small gray cat and pull her inside. Luna was found by Cal when she was a young kitten as a stray, though Cal knew her mother would never let her have a cat, so she taught Luna how to get to her room upstairs because she felt responsible for her. 8 months later, Luna still came to her. Cal often went to the store behind her mother's back to buy cat food and extra milk.

Cal got out of bed and brought the cat downstairs and brought out a bowl, filling it with milk and setting it on the floor for her. Cal was dressed in an over-sized baby blue t-shirt and dark blue shorts, and had blue slippers on her feet.

She reached down to pet Luna, smiling when she purred happily. "Okay, I have to go get dressed, but I'll be right back." She leaned down and kissed the cat on her head before walking back up the stairs. She put her clothes on and went back downstairs, finding Luna waiting on the counter for her.

She reached up to grab another bowl, but this one she filled with cereal and milk for herself, sitting down at the island in the middle of the kitchen to eat. Luna rubbed up against her hands and face, and Cal laughed.

"Luna, I'm trying to eat." She picked up and the small cat and set her down on the hardwood floor before continuing her breakfast. Then, a knock at her door interrupted her.

She frowned, wondering who would be at her door at 6:45 in the morning, but went over and opened it anyway. She saw that it was Vi. A car was waiting behind her, and she waved at it when Cal opened the door, making it drive away.

"Hi, Cal!" Vi smiled, speaking with a very vibrant energy. "Sorry to bother you so early, but I thought I should drop by since we hadn't seen each other in a while!"

Cal raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we see each other every day for the last few days?" Cal let her in and closed the door behind her.

Vi nodded. "Yeah, but I love people, and you're one of the closet things I have to a friend right now."

"Really? I would've figured you would have a lot of friends." Cal frowned.

She shrugged. "I guess some people find my cheeriness a bit overwhelming. I mean, as I said, I love people but that doesn't mean they love me back, you know?"

Cal nodded. "Yeah, I know." She walked back over to sit down and eat her cereal while Vi looked around.

"You have a very nice house." Vi compliment. "Oh my god, you have a cat?! I love animals!" She ran over and picked up Luna, and the 10 month old cat struggled to break free of Vi's grasp.

"Well, she's not really my cat, she's a neighborhood cat that I rescued as a kitten, but my mom isn't the biggest fan of animals so I keep her outdoors most of the time and let her in when she's not here." Cal put a spoonful of cereal in her mouth and watched Vi play with Luna. "So, I know that I'm your friend, but I have a feeling there's another reason you're here."

Vi nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to know if you got anywhere with Geo or Roger?"

"No," Cal shook her head, feeling bad for her failure with the two. "Every time I try to talk to them, I either get interrupted or ignored."

"They ignore you when you go up to them? That's rude." Vi pouted.

"Well, no, they ignore me when I try to call them, but when I go to actually talk to them, either they're already doing something or someone needs me to do something." Cal told her.

"Why don't you just go up to them anyway?"

Cal was taken aback. "That's pretty rude."

"It's pretty rude to leave you to fight the war on the world alone." Vi responded. "Look, I get that you're shy, but sometimes you just gotta go out of your comfort zone to get things done."

Cal frowned. "I'm not shy." Vi gave her a look. "I'm not. I just... I don't wanna talk about it." She looked away, feeling a pang of anxiety coming on.

"Alright," Vi put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. You don't have to, I'm sorry." Cal took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. "Look, I'll talk to them for you, alright. All you have to do is show up at the diner you guys met at the day you became rangers. I got this."

~PRAG~

Roger was up and ready to go to school before his brother was, which was quite unusual. Roger finished eating breakfast and went upstairs. He walked towards his brother's room and opened the door, finding him fast asleep at his computer desk. That in itself was not an unusual sight.

He walked over and tapped his brother on the shoulder. "Chris," He said, and his brother sat up sleepily.

Chris frowned and pushed Roger's hand away. "What?" He asked, rubbing a hand over his face. "Why are you up this early anyway?"

Roger frowned also. He looked over his brother, and found him looking exhausted, pale, and a bit sweaty. "Uhh.. it's like 7:15," After a slight delayed reaction, Chris' eyes widened in shock. He began to stand up when Roger pushed him back into the chair. "Are you alright? You've been acting a bit strange."

"Strange? What are you talking about?"

Roger shrugged. "Like you're sick or something."

Chris looked at him with a weird look before touching his forehead. He pulled it away. "Nothing."

He rolled his eyes. "That means nothing in trying to prove something to me but whatever. Can you drive me to school or should I drive myself?"

Chris stood up from his seat and grabbed his jacket. "Let's go."

~PRAG~

Geo was running a bit late on his way to school, as his alarm clock hadn't gone off on time that morning. He quickly pulled a beanie onto his head and looked at himself in the mirror.

He took in a deep breath. "Today will be a good day." He told himself.

 _No, it won't._ A voice in his head told him. _All you ever do is hide behind this stupid mask - why don't you show your friends the real you? You'll never be real, you'll never be happy, and you'll never be accepted._

Geo shook his head to get rid of the thoughts and took another deep breath before turning the light off in his bathroom and going out into the living room. His mother was fast asleep on the couch, still dressed her her uniform and with a sandwich on the table.

He smiled fondly and picked up a blanket off of a nearby chair to drape over her. He kissed her forehead. "Bye, mom." He whispered.

He walked over to the door and picked up his backpack and hockey bag. Once he had both securely in his arms, he left.

~PRAG~

Vi wasn't kidding when she said she could handle it. Cal watched her push through Roger's friends with ease after third period, and then hold him back when he tried to walk away from her.

"What do you want?" Roger asked, pulling his arm out of her grasp with a frown.

"Look, I know you're probably pretty adamant about your decision of being a," She lowered her voice, "Ranger, but I really would like to talk to you about it."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I am, which is why I don't wanna talk to you."

Vi grabbed his arm one more time before he walked away. "Please, Roger. Just hear me out."

He sighed. "When and where?"

"Carlyle's Diner, after school." She smiled brightly. "Thank you so much."

"Yeah, yeah." Roger muttered as he walked away.

Vi almost ran back to Cal. "Now all we need is Geo." The bell rang, and Vi gestured for her to go forward. "We'll find him at lunch."

Fourth period went by pretty slowly for the two girls, but when they got out, Vi grabbed Cal by the arm and pulled her quickly out of class. "I know where to find him."

Vi dragged her to the ice rink. "Okay, wait here, I'll get him."

Cal nodded and Vi walked in. Geo was alone, shooting hockey pucks at the goal. "Geo," Vi called, leaning over the rim of the ice rink. Geo sighed and skated over to her. She looked around. "I'm surprised you're alone."

Geo shrugged. "Robby is sick and Eli is with his girlfriend," He said distastefully.

"You don't like his girlfriend?" Vi questioned.

Geo's face turned red. "No, it's not that. She's awesome." He frowned at her, trying to change the subject. "Why are you here anyway?"

"I think you know why."

He nodded. "Look, Vi, I already said..."

Vi cut him off. "I don't care what you said. We need to discuss this, because this really isn't something you can just reject. Please."

Geo thought for a moment before he shrugged in defeat. "Alright."

"Great," She smiled. "Meet me at Carlyle's Diner after school."

Before he could respond, Vi walked away excitedly and met Cal back out in the hall.

"I got him," She squealed excitedly. "Now we just have to hope we there's no trouble before then."

~PRAG~

Unfortunately, there was a bit of trouble. Cal was called to battle an alien named Dog, while Vi went to Carlyle's with her laptop. When she ran in, she was breathless, and saw Roger and Geo sitting together awkwardly at a booth. She grabbed a chair from a table without any regards to anyone and pulled it up to the booth.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Geo asked, frowning. Vi seemed very restless and worried.

Vi typed in a few things in her laptop before responding. "You two might get a lot of people hurt."

Roger rolled his eyes. "So we came here for you to scold us? Great. I'm leaving." He began to get up when Vi quickly shoved him back down. "You can't force me to stay here."

"I know. I'm trying to force you to go out there." She gestured outdoors.

"That makes no sense."

Vi groaned. "Look at this."

She turned the laptop towards them so they could see. It was a live video feed of Cal in her ranger suit fighting Dog. He swiped at her with his claws and bared her teeth.

She groaned and stood, "This is harder than I remember."

Cal did a cartwheel over and kicked Dog back. She jumped sideways to also kick him a few more times. The fighting had little affect on the alien. He headbutted her in the waist, making her fly back.

She gritted her teeth under her helmet and stood up again, but more unsteadily. "This isn't good."

Cal took out her blaster and shot at the alien, making it fall back a bit, but not by much.

"Cal is in trouble." Vi told them as they watched her fight. "You need to help her."

Geo said nothing, but Roger was still on the fence about it. "But, I need to focus on college."

Vi rolled her eyes. "There won't be a college to go to if you don't save the world, I don't get why you don't see that. I don't know how you think you're just gonna be able to live your normal life when the Earth is being enslaved by aliens. Actually, you're probably gonna be one of the first ones enslaved because you have the power to fight them."

He was silent. Geo watched as Cal ran up and jumped over a car with her sword drawn, and brought it down, only to have it caught in Dog's teeth. She tried to pull it out, but he shook his head similarly to a real dog with a chew toy, and threw her to the side like a rag doll.

She demorphed and didn't get back up.

He looked at his pendant and touched the morpher on his wrist lightly. _You'll never accomplish anything important._ The voice in his head said. _You can't do it._

"Yes I can." He whispered to himself. He looked up at Vi. "Cal needs help, and I intend to help her."

Vi smiled. "Good. The location is in your morpher, go." He nodded and ran out of the diner. Vi looked to Roger. "Well?"

~PRAG~

Cal moaned in pain and looked over her shoulder to see Dog standing menacingly over her with his teeth bared and and his claws out.

"Any last words?" His voice came out as a gruff growl.

She cringed, waiting for the final blow, but she found that it never came. She looked up to see an unmorphed Geo run up and kick Dog down. He flew back and skidded on the ground.

Geo ran over to her and helped her up. "Geo? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help." He gave her a small smile, which she returned gratefully.

Dog was getting back to his feet, and the two stood defensively against him. "Your time is up!" Geo announced. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Cal and, out of nowhere, Roger's voice exclaimed.

Geo and Cal looked at him in shock. "Vi talked to me, and she's right. If I don't do this, there's nothing left for me to do at all."

They smiled and took their pendants off and put them in the slot in their morphers. "Animal Guardians, Arise!"

"Power of the Eagle!"

"Power of the Bear!"

"Power of the Gorilla!"

The three stood strong together, and Dog looked worried. "This can't be good."

They ran forward, pulling out their swords, and for Geo his blaster. Cal ran first, slashing Dog straight down the middle. Roger ran in second, slashing down side to side.

Geo jumped up and flipped through the air before blasting Dog straight through the head. Geo jumped once more, but over Dog this time, and kicked the alien down, landing next to Cal and Roger as Dog exploded.

The three looked at the spot Dog just was as they put their weapons away. "That was crazy!" Roger exclaimed. "I mean, did you see that?"

Cal put her hands on her hips and frowned. "You were here for five minutes. You didn't see what I went through."

Suddenly, like last time, they were transported to Ranger Ops. They landed on the ground.

"I am never gonna get used to that." Geo muttered, picking himself off of the ground.

The three stood up straight and demorphed, putting their pendants around their necks again.

They heard clapping from behind them and saw Alicia, Ben, Ginger, and Vi standing there, looking very pleased.

"You did it," Alicia smiled. "Again. You destroyed your second alien, together I might add." She looked pointedly at Geo and Roger. "Thank you for doing the right thing. I appreciate it, and I'm sure the world does too, even if they don't know it yet."

"It wasn't us at all," Geo smirked at Vi. "It was Vi who convinced us to do it in the end."

Alicia put an arm around her intern. "Yeah, she's amazing, isn't she."

Vi blushed. "I wouldn't say _that_." She laughed. "But really, it was you who made the decision in the end, and you should all be proud of yourselves."

The three stood strong together. "I think we are." Geo smiled.

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Geo struggles with the team when he finds out that he's the leader, and Roger's attitude about it makes it even worse.

 **Just letting you guys know, zords will come into the story not in the next chapter, but the one after that, which is Ep 5: Zords, Arise! The only things I'll tell you is that in the chapter, the rangers will have trouble controlling their zords because Roger is very distracted with something.**

 **Other things that will be coming up are: Roger's struggle with being second-in-command, Cal will face difficulties in fighting against the aliens due to her kind nature, more about Geo's life and thoughts, and a new character, Maya, will be introduced.**

 **I also updated Power Rangers: Data Surge on Friday, if you guys wanna check that out!**

 **Hope you guys liked the chapter!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	6. Ep 4: Follow The Leader

**Hey guys, sorry I'm late AGAIN but I'm guessing you all have learned to expect that from me already. Oh, this is the first chapter that you'll get to see a past ranger (from Ancient Animals), so I hope you'll like it!**

 **Maya is portrayed by Kelli Berglund**

 **Angie is portrayed by Michelle Trachtenberg**

* * *

The three rangers sat patiently in the training room, waiting for Ben. Alicia, however, was not as patient. She was standing with her arms crossed and her foot tapping the ground.

"Where in the hell is he?" Alicia looked at her watch and groaned. "He's usually not this late."

"Do you know where he is?" Cal asked, sitting a bit uncomfortably on the hard bench.

Alicia nodded. "Yeah, he opened up a boxing studio a while ago and teaches classes there everyday, but because of this, he asked his best student, Maya, if she wanted to work there and train others, and she said yes, so he shouldn't be taking this long."

As if on cue, Ben came practically running through the door. "Hey, sorry I'm late, guys." He kissed Alicia on the cheek. "I was held up at work."

"Maya's handling it for you?" Alicia asked.

"As per usual." Ben nodded. "Oh, and Vi went to join her, by the way, so she's not here."

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Typical." She turned to the rangers. "Enjoy your training; I have to go work alone now."

"Ginger could always help you." Ben teased as she walked away.

"No way." She chuckled before walking out of the room.

Ben turned to the three rangers, noticing that they looked a bit nervous. He smirked. "You guys look nervous."

Roger scoffed. "Not even."

"You shouldn't be," Ben said. "Today we're gonna keep it simple." He sat on the floor and gestured for them to do them same. After some hesitance, they did. "I know this seems a bit childish and odd to sit in a circle on the floor, but I need to tell you guys some information before we start training."

"Like what?" Geo asked, glancing at Roger and Cal.

"Well," Ben started. "Like there are positions on a team."

Roger smirked. "So there's a leader, I'm guessing."

Ben noticed the look on his face. "Yes, and I'm guessing you think it's you?"

"Well, I'm clearly the best choice." Roger said confidently. "I mean, I'm a good fighter, I'm intelligent, good looking, etc." Geo and Cal made faces at him, though he didn't seem to notice.

"I see." Ben nodded. "Well, unfortunately for you, Geo's the leader."

"What?!" They exclaimed at the same time.

"Yeah. And Roger, you're second-in-command." He then turned to Cal as the two stared at each other in shock. "Cal, unfortunately, you'll only be in command if both Geo and Roger are out of commission."

Cal shrugged. "I'm alright with that if they are."

The two began talking over each other, stating how neither of them liked the position they were in.

"Enough!" Ben exclaimed, stopping them. "Geo's the leader and that's final. Any questions?" Roger opened his mouth to respond, but Ben stopped him. "Good. Now," He stood up. "Let's get some training done."

~PRAG~

Meanwhile, Alicia went to Ben's studio to collect Vi herself as she needed help with some final touches on one of her projects. When she walked in, she didn't see Vi, but saw Maya training with a girl who looked very familiar to Alicia, at least from behind.

She found that when the girl turned around, it was exactly who she thought it would be. The girl didn't notice her at first, but Maya did, and she put up a signal to stop the match. She walked over to the edge of the ring and leaned against the strings. Maya was a pretty girl with light brown hair and brown eyes. She had a black tank top on with a pair of black spandex shorts on the bottom. She had no shoes on due to being in the ring.

"Ben already left, you know," Maya pointed out.

Alicia nodded. "I am aware, but I needed Vi."

"She's in the back." Maya said. "Our session was done anyways. I'll get her and get dressed," She looked back at the girl she was training. "I suggest you do the same."

The girl looked at Alicia and smiled in greeting. "I'll be back there in a second, I wanna talk to Alicia first."

Maya raised an eyebrow. "You two know each other?" They nodded. "Ex-ranger?" They nodded again, and Maya chuckled. "I figured. I'll be in the back if you need me."

"Take your time." Alicia told her as the girl walked forward to get out of the ring.

"Oh I will."

The two chuckled at Maya and then embraced. The girl had long, curly brown hair, blue eyes, and was about 4 inches taller than Maya, leaving her at 5'7. She was wearing an almost gold pair of shorts, a black sports bra, and no shoes.

"Angie, what are you doing here? I didn't know you worked out at Ben's studio." Alicia said.

Angie chuckled. "Well, I didn't leave town like most of the others and I heard about a new boxing studio with a very familiar name and decided this was the perfect place to possibly see some old faces."

"Well, it's amazing to see you. It's been, what? Almost 2 years?"

"About." Angie nodded. "I missed you guys."

Alicia smiled fondly. "I miss all of you guys too. Do you know how any of the others have been doing?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I know that Darren is off at college and he met a girl, and Ally and Frank are together, and he's working through training in the military and I think she's working to become a doctor, but I don't know about the others. I haven't seen or heard from them in a while." She told her. "How about you? What's been going on?"

"Well, me and Ben are married, for about a year now, I have an intern now, Vi, Maya's girlfriend, I assume you saw her," Angie nodded. "And I think you the rest."

"The new rangers." Angie smirked. "Well, they're sure as hell up against some tough competition to be your favorite team."

Alicia laughed. "I guess so."

"So what are the new rangers like? Are they as awesome as us?" Angie asked, leaning against the bottom of the ring.

She shrugged. "Well, I've only known them for about two weeks, and Vi's been doing most of the talking, so I couldn't name anything specific right off the bat."

Maya then came out of the back with Vi, holding hands. Maya was now wearing a black tank top, black skinny jeans, black boots, and a black and blue flannel tied around her waist. She handed a bag to Angie.

"Here's your stuff."

Angie smiled. "Thanks, Maya."

Maya nodded. She turned to Vi. "Alright, I guess your ride is here, so I'll get going." She kissed her on the cheek.

"Alright." Vi pouted. "Bye, babe."

"Bye," She smiled. She turned to Angie. "I'll see you next week?" Angie nodded. "Alright, cool." She then turned to Alicia. "Nice of you to stop by and steal my girlfriend, but bye."

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Bye, Maya."

Maya left and Vi gestured to the door. "Shall we?"

Alicia nodded. Before she left, she turned to Angie. "Do you need a ride?"

"No, but I would love to meet these new rangers of yours, if I'm allowed." Angie smirked.

Alicia smiled. "I would love that."

~PRAG~

Ben sighed as he and Cal watched Geo and Roger spar. It was mostly consisted of Roger aggressively pounding on Geo, and Geo trying to defend himself. Roger knocked Geo off of his feet and pinned him to the ground.

"You'll never be as good of a leader as I would be." Roger growled, and Geo felt a pang of sadness in his chest.

"Hey, guys!" Ben scolded, pulling Roger off of Geo. "We're not fighting each other, we're fighting a war against monstrous aliens. If..."

Suddenly, the alarm went off, silencing Ben. He groaned in annoyance, but waved them off. They ran out of Ranger Ops, passing Angie on the way. She frowned and walked right back into the room she was just walking out of.

"They seem to be leaving, so I guess I'll stay." Angie shrugged.

~PRAG~

The three ran to the battle sight and stood together as they saw a monster terrorizing people. This monster was modeled after an Opossum. When he heard the rangers stop behind him, he turned and growled low in his throat.

"Who are you meddling little brats?" He snarled. "I don't want to have to hurt you." He cackled.

Roger rolled his eyes. "I highly doubt you would." He scoffed.

"Ready?" Geo asked, a bit hesitantly, his pendant in hand.

"Ready."

"Animal Guardians, Arise!"

"Power of the Eagle!"

"Power of the Bear!"

"Power of the Gorilla!"

Opossum just scoffed at them. "You three little brats won't beat me! I'll destroy you all, and Terra will make me more important than you know!"

"We'll see." Roger retorted as they ran in. Roger made an immediate beeline for the alien, without waiting for instruction. He took out his sword and jumped up, doing an impressive flip, and coming down to strike Opossum.

The alien hissed at Roger, revealing ugly, yellow teeth, and he backed up in disgust. "Gross."

Opossum took this as an opportunity and struck the black ranger to the side with a backhand. Geo and Cal were standing a bit back; Geo was trying to come up with a plan.

"Any ideas?" Cal questioned, looking towards Geo.

Geo looked to her in a slight state of panic. "Umm... go help those people." He pointed to the side, where a few people were cowering behind a bus stop bench.

Cal nodded. "Alright."

Geo ran forward at Opossum, but he smirked and hissed, shocking Geo and making him step back a bit. Opossum laughed at him and saw Cal run by him. He whipped his tail over and struck her back.

"Cal!" He called, and was about to run towards the alien, but saw Roger already doing so. The black ranger blasted the alien back and ran over to the people, helping them up.

"Go! Run!" He yelled.

They nodded, offering their thanks as they ran away. He saw Opossum get back up out of the corner of his eye, and blasted towards him, nearly hitting Geo whom ran forward to strike the alien with his sword. The red ranger jumped out of the way of the blast, but it knocked his sword out of his hand, and didn't hit Opossum, allowing the alien to kick him to the side.

"For a giant monster, you sure can kick." Geo grumbled.

Roger ran back over to Cal and helped her up. "You wanna tag team him?"

Cal nodded. "Sure."

The blue ranger pulled out her blaster and Roger ran in front of her. She ran towards him and jumped up, launching herself off of his shoulder and flipping through the air to blast Opossum, before Roger ran past and her struck the alien hard with his sword, knocking it back.

Opossum landed in the middle of the street and laid there, though didn't explode. As Geo stood back up, feeling upset with himself, he found this a bit strange. He ignored his thoughts, however, when noticed injured people laying around on the ground.

"We need to help these people." He gestured around. "Roger, you go get them, Cal you get them, and I'll get them."

Cal nodded, and was about to run over to help the people she was told to, but Roger scoffed and put his arm our to stop her.

"You think after that I'm gonna let you tell me what to do? I just led the team and defeated a monster, what makes you think you're good enough to tell me what to do?"

Geo felt even worse now, Roger's comment's truly weren't helping. "I-I..."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just let me handle it? Cal, go help them." He gestured to the people Geo was going to help.

Cal sighed. "Guys, can't we all just..."

"Go!" Roger barked, and Cal jumped a bit, and ran over to help the people nearest to Opossum.

"You can't just order people around like that!" Geo growled. "Cal doesn't deserve to be talked to like that, Roger."

"Well no one else seems to be doing anything to lead, are they?" Roger snarled.

Geo clenched his fists and was about to tell the black ranger off when a loud whipping sound was heard, followed by a cry of pain. The two looked over to see Cal fly into a car and demorph while Opossum stood up and laughed.

"Cal!" Geo called. The blue ranger moaned in pain, but didn't move. Geo brought out his blaster and immediately blasted Opossum back. He turned to Roger. "Give me your blaster," He demanded, taking out his sword and handing it to Roger while the black ranger hesitantly gave over his blaster. "Take out your sword."

"What are we doing?" Roger asked, taking out his sword anyway.

"I'm gonna go over there and blast him as much as possible, and I need you to just run over there and slash him with those swords. If he doesn't explode, he's not dead." Geo said. "Go!"

The two did as Geo said, and thankfully, the alien did explode this time. "Finally." Geo muttered, the two exchanging weapons again. He looked around and noticed most of the people had managed to run away when Opossum had gotten back up.

Geo demorphed and ran over to Cal. He tapped her face, and she moaned, but didn't awaken. He sighed and picked her up bridal carry style. He then turned to Roger, who had also demorphed and was standing a bit off, looking warily at the two.

"Cal Vi, tell her we need to..." He trailed off as they were teleported into Ranger Ops, and almost fell, but managed to keep himself up to avoid dropping or hurting Cal. "Be teleported back." He finished.

"Take her to the infirmary." Vi said, coming close and looking her over. "I think she'll be okay, but her shoulder looked a bit messed up."

Geo nodded and began to walk towards the infirmary while Roger, who had fallen when he had been teleported, just sat on the floor, looking quite sad.

"Roger, are you..." Vi was cut off by him.

"I screwed up, didn't I?" Roger asked, looking up at Vi with pain in his eyes. "I screwed up, and Cal got hurt, all because I care more about being a leader than being a good teammate and friend."

"Hey, you can't win them all." Angie's voice cut in. She stood above him and offered him a hand to help him up.

"Who are you?" Roger frowned, taking her hand.

Angie smiled. "The gold Ancient Animals ranger, the ones before you. The name is Angie."

"The gold ranger?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I came in a little later then the others, but I was there. Look, I know it sucks to let your teammates down, or to have another get hurt, especially if you could've done something to prevent it, but we can't tell the future, Roger. You made a mistake, and that's a part of life. You'll all get past it, trust me."

He mustered a small smile. "Thank you, Angie."

She smiled back. "Anything for a fellow ranger. Now, I suggest you go home and cool off, and then come back tomorrow."

He nodded. "Probably should, my brother's sick anyway, and I was supposed to check up on him." He stopped just before he was about to leave. "Thanks again."

"No problem." She said as they watched him leave.

"That was really nice of you, Angie." Vi commented.

She chuckled. "Yeah, well, I know being a ranger is hard, and when I was one I could be a bit of a jerk, but I think I've changed, for the better."

Meanwhile, Geo was sitting in the other room with Cal, whom had been treated for her injuries and was sitting down on a bed.

"Are you alright?" Geo asked her.

Cal nodded. "I think so. I mean, my shoulder hurts a bit, but I'll be okay." She looked around. "Where's Roger?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but I don't really care." He said bitterly.

Alicia scoffed. "That sucks, cause he was just really upset about the way he treated you guys, and you got hurt, Cal."

"He should be." Geo nodded.

Alicia sighed. "Geo, look, he really seemed to regret his actions, and everybody makes mistakes. Nobody is perfect."

 _Well, I try to be,_ Geo thought bitterly. He shrugged. "Whatever. I think I'm just gonna go home."

Cal and Alicia watched him leave. Cal sighed. "I just want us to all get along." She said.

Alicia sat beside her on the bed and wrapped her arm around her. "You guys will, trust me. Everything will work itself out in the end, no matter how bad it seems now."

"Really?" Cal asked, looking up at her.

Alicia gave her a small smile. "Really."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** The rangers attempt to use their zords for the first time, but since the zords require all of the rangers to be focused on the task at hand, they have a hard time controlling them with Roger being severely distracted.

 **I hope you guys liked seeing Angie again, even though I wrote her very poorly when she was initially created. I also hope you guys like Maya so far, even if you only saw her for a brief instance. She will become more recurring in a few episodes, but I just really wanted to introduce her to you guys.**

 **I also updated Power Rangers: Data Surge a few days ago, if you guys are interested!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	7. Ep 5: Focus

**I hope you guys had a great Christmas and a great ending to 2015 as well! I have been hinting at what Roger will be distracted by though I'm not sure if you guys caught on. Keep in mind that I'm not a doctor or anything close, so sorry if I get some stuff wrong. All information is based off of google searches, so... Anyway, here it is!**

* * *

In what looked like the ruins of Welch County, a large machine stood in front of a large group of 50 stories tall Chimera. Inside the machine sat Geo, Roger, and Cal in front of three individual consoles of various buttons and a wheel of sorts that resembled joysticks.

"Okay guys, just remember what Alicia said," Geo told them, looking at them. "We need to focus to properly pilot the megazord."

"You know," Roger started. "She didn't exactly tell us what would happen if we couldn't focus."

Geo rolled his eyes. "So you're just gonna go against what she said and mess us up, then?"

The black ranger chuckled. "Please, I could focus on this in my sleep."

He pushed the one of the buttons to fire lasers at a few of the Chimera and smirked at Geo.

"This isn't a game, Roger." Geo growled. "And this isn't a test of who's better than who. We're fighting against deadly monsters, so be serious."

"I'm completely serious." Roger responded. "You haven't even done anything yet, Mr. Perfect."

Geo clenched his fists hard around his wheel. He rammed the wheel forward, causing the megazord to walk quickly towards the Chimera. He pressed a few buttons, causing a massive attack on the majority of them.

Suddenly, a sound was heard from the inside of the megazord. Cal and Geo looked to Roger who pulled out his phone. The two looked at him as if he was crazy and he shrugged.

"I forgot I had it on me." He looked at the screen and then smirked up at Geo. "Just watch this."

He answered the cal and put the phone up to his ear as he pressed multiple commands for attacks against the remaining Chimera. Suddenly, he stopped without finished the commands.

"What?" He asked, sounding worried. Suddenly, the megazord collapsed and due to the force of the fall, the rangers were knocked straight out and onto the floor.

 _SIMULATION OVER_ flashed in bright red in front of their eyes. Geo and Cal ripped off their simulation goggles and saw Roger scrambling to grab his things.

"Oh, I watched," Geo sneered. "What the hell was that, Roger?"

Roger turned to him, his glare burning holes into the red ranger. "That was a call from the hospital. My brother just collapsed at school."

Geo was silenced, but Cal spoke up. "Oh my god, is he okay?"

Roger shrugged as he put his jacket on. "I don't know, they didn't say."

"Do you want us to go with you?" Cal asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We could ask Alicia to borrow her truck."

Roger seemed to contemplate this for a moment before nodded. "Please."

"Alright." Cal nodded. She turned to Geo and gestured for him to come. "Come on, we're going to the hospital."

~PRAG~

When the rangers arrived, Roger immediately went to the desk in front while Cal and Geo stood a bit back.

"Geo?" A woman's voice came from off to the side. Both Geo and Cal turned to see Ashley Costello, Geo's mother. She had tan skin, and brown hair and eyes like Geo. She was a lot shorter than him, though, standing at about 5'4. She was dressed her her nurse scrubs and had her long hair tied up in a ponytail. She walked quickly towards them. "What are you doing here?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, mom, don't worry." He assured her. "Our.. friend, Roger's, brother is here."

Ashley looked over at Cal and smiled. "Hello, again, Callie. I didn't know you two knew each other."

Geo raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know _you two_ knew each other."

"Of course!" Ashley nodded. "You obviously know, Rebecca, right?" Geo nodded, a bit uncomfortable at this question. "That's Callie's mom."

Geo turned to Cal in shock. "Your mom?"

Cal nodded, suddenly very uncomfortable. "Yeah. Why?"

"No reason." Geo said quickly. "She's really nice."

"You would think so since she's a therapist," Cal nodded in agreement. "She has to be."

Ashley opened her mouth to speak when Roger came back over to them. "They said he's upstairs."

"Do you want us to come?" Cal asked.

"You can walk with me, but I think I need to go in alone." Roger replied.

Cal nodded. "Of course. Geo, do you want to come?"

Geo looked awkwardly at his mom, and she chuckled and waved him off. "Go. Don't worry, I'll still be here when you leave."

"Alright, mom." He kissed his mom on the cheek and followed the two.

When the rangers eventually got upstairs to the room, Roger turned to them a bit nervously. "I don't know if I can do this."

Cal put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be fine, I promise."

Roger took a deep breath and nodded, walking into the room and leaving Cal and Geo in the hall. When he walked in, he saw a short woman, only about 4'9, standing in front of his brother, who was awake and alert.

Roger frowned. "Uhh.. hello?"

The woman turned to him and smiled. "You must be his brother," She said, her voice accented from her Asian heritage. She had short dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a very profession doctor's uniform.

Roger nodded. "I am. The name is Roger," He put his hand out.

She shook his hand. "I'm Dr. Moriko Tachibana, a surgeon," Roger's eyes widened, "And I was called to check on your brother's case, though it seems as though he might not need it." He sighed in relief.

"What happened?" He asked, inching closer to Chris.

"Endocarditis," She responded, and Roger raised an eyebrow at her.

"I have no idea what that is." He told her.

She nodded. "Not many do, it's quite a rare condition. Endocarditis is an infection of the heart." She explained. "This has occurred because the virus that was already in his body, and making him sick, traveled through the blood stream, attaching itself to the damaged areas of his heart."

Chris looked a bit uncomfortable as she said this, and Roger looked at him. "Damaged areas of the heart?" He turned to Moriko. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well," She started, looking a bit uncomfortable herself. "Your brother's condition..."

"Condition?" Roger frowned deeply. "Can someone please explain this to me?"

Chris looked awkwardly out the window, not wanting to look at his brother, while Moriko shifted a bit awkwardly. "Chris has AS, or Aortic Stenosis from your mother, whom I've also treated before. AS is a disease that narrows the valve in the aorta. I'm not sure if this is making much sense to you, but that is one of the main reasons your brother got endocarditis. The other being the fact that he doesn't take his medication for it."

Roger glared towards Chris, who still refused to look at him. He took a deep breath and looked to both of them. "What? How do you know any of this? What is going on?"

"Remember when mom and dad said I was going to volunteer to be a counselor at a science camp last year?" Chris asked. Roger nodded. "Well, that's not true. I got really sick and came here and they found out that mom gave her heart condition to me. After that, we watched you to see if you had any symptoms, but you never have, so you're in the clear."

"But you're not and you never told me?" Roger asked, looking at him as if he was crazy. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Chris shrugged. "Maybe I didn't want you to think that I wasn't the 'perfect one', besides now that it's important, you know."

"It wasn't important before?" Roger crossed his arms.

"It wasn't getting worse before, but now it is." He responded, looking down in what seemed like shame.

Roger sighed and turned back to Moriko, who looked very uncomfortable with their conversation. "What's gonna happen?"

"We're treating Chris with Vancomycin, an antibiotic, and we will release him when his condition becomes more stable and manageable without the antibiotics. As for AS.. well, his condition is getting worse, but not so bad that his heart is failing, nor so bad that he needs to stay here as long as he takes it slow and easy."

Roger nodded. "So, he'll be alright?"

"For now, yes." She gestured to the door. "I have to go see my other patients, if you need anything, press the call button."

The two nodded and watched her leave. Roger then just looked at his brother. He was looking down almost guiltily, which made Roger roll his eyes.

"You can't act like you didn't bring this upon yourself, Chris." He growled. "You could've told me. You could've taken your medication. I don't understand any of this."

Chris took a deep breath and leaned back into his pillow. "Just leave, Roger. The car is out front, my friend drove it here for me. Take it, and leave. Stress is the last thing I want right now."

Roger frowned. "I'm trying to stress you out!"

"Well you are!" He exclaimed, and Roger saw his heart on the monitor become quick and a bit irregular. He took a deep breath and leaned back once more. "Leave."

Roger crossed his arms. "Chris..." He started a bit angrily.

"Go!" His heart monitor spiked again and he had to take a deep breath and calm down to keep it normal.

Roger huffed and stormed out of the room, passing Cal and Geo without a second thought. The two got up to follow him when their morphers beeped. They saw Roger uncaringly walk over to the elevator to take it up, ignoring the call.

"We have to go." Geo nudged Cal.

Cal looked towards the elevator. "But Geo, what about..."

"We don't have time to wait for him," Geo said more forcefully. "We have to go."

Cal sighed and nodded. "Alright." She took one last look towards the elevator that was already going up, carrying Roger in it, and then followed Geo down the stairs and out of the hospital.

~PRAG~

Roger took the elevator as high as he could go, then took stairs up to the roof. He knew he wasn't allowed to be up there, and if he got caught, he could potentially get into a lot of trouble, but he didn't care.

As far as he was concerned, his brother was getting worse from a problem Roger didn't even know he had, yet everyone else did seem to know about. Not only that, but his mind was racing, and he knew from the simulation, he couldn't help control the megazord like this.

He let out a yell and punched the ground angrily. "I hate this! I hate this! I HATE THIS!" He yelled, continually punching the ground.

Roger heard a rumbling sound and looked up to see a large monster, almost as tall as the building, laughing at the city. This monster was modeled after a Sloth and, despite moving slowly, had menacingly long, sharp claws.

He watched as Geo and Cal moved forward in their individual zords, Geo flying above Cal in his red Eagle Zord and Cal moving below in her blue Gorilla Zord.

Then, he turned away. He didn't want to watch something he couldn't help with. Suddenly, he heard something behind him, and turned to see Maya standing behind him after teleporting herself in.

"Who are you?" He asked, looking her over with a frown.

"The name is Maya Stone - I'm Ben's.. assistant of sorts." She told him, crossing her arms. "I was hanging out with Vi in the viewing room, when I saw you here and decided to come and have a little chat."

"A little chat?" Roger rolled his eyes. "I don't need a pep talk from _you_."

Maya scoffed. "It's a bit early for the insults, don't you think? You literally just met me."

"I don't need one from anyone!" Roger retorted. "How about that?"

She then rolled her eyes. "Ah, the greatness of manhood. Why don't you let go of that facade for five seconds and actually get the root of the problem."

"You wanna know the root of the problem?" Roger sneered. "The root of the problem is that my brother has been keeping a HUGE secret from me for a little over a year, and I know I'll never be able to help them if I can't focus!" He let out a yell. "I just can't do this! I've been a ranger for what? Like a month? And already, I'm having problems! I got Cal hurt a week or so ago, and now I can't even help in our first zord battle!"

"If it helps any, zord battles aren't often for Animali. They generally believe that if you fail once, you deserve a second chance." Maya told him.

He sat down on a sturdy pipe. "It doesn't."

Maya sighed. "Look, Roger, I get that sometimes, things get complicated, believe me, I know first hand, but you can't just give up because of that. The key thing for me about focus is just realizing what's more important in that moment. I get that your brother is probably really important to you, and the fact that he lied must really hurt, but if you don't help, not only will Geo and Cal's lives be at stake, but you, your brother's, and everybody in the whole world's lives will be too. In this moment right now, what's more important to you? The fact that your brother lied? Or the everyone's lives?"

Meanwhile in the zords, Cal and Geo were struggling hard against the monster. Cal used her zord to swing across a few buildings and launch herself at the monster, but Sloth, even being as slow as he was, had it claws up waiting for her, and she hit the claws and was thrown back.

 _"Cal, you alright?"_ Vi questioned through her helmet.

Cal resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Not really." She reported.

 _"Geo, what about you?"_ Vi asked to the red ranger.

He shot a few lasers at Sloth, though as he attempted to avoid the claws, his zord was grazed and was sent spinning out of control.

"I'm getting dizzy!" He cried fearfully as he could see himself spinning towards a fairly tall building. He squeezed his eyes shut as he got close.

Suddenly, something stopped him from hitting it at the last moment. He opened his eyes one by one, a bit worried about what had happened. He turned however, and a large black Bear Zord standing on it's hind legs with his wing in its grasp.

"Roger?" Geo asked.

"The one and only." He responded. "Why don't we combine these bad boys and destroy this son of a bitch?"

Geo smirked. "Definitely."

The three pushed a button in their zords at the same time and then their zords joined together in front of Sloth. The Bear Zord's head came off and made into chest armor while the rest of the body remained standing. Cal's Gorilla Zord came apart completely and molded into armor for the legs and arms. Finally, the Eagle Zord's wings detached and became wings for the back of the megazord with the rest of the body becoming a head.

"Guardian Megazord Part 1!" They cried together.

Sloth laughed. "You'll never beat me, even with that hunk of junk!"

Maya watched them from the roof of the hospital. They moved forward and punched Sloth before it could make a move on them. With the alien knocked down, the three all pressed the button for a final blow. All of a sudden, the wings rose up over the shoulders and revealed blasters. Sloth stood up and the rangers blasted him with everything they had, destroying him.

Maya smirked. "I knew they could do it."

She heard someone opening the door to the roof from behind her and immediately teleported back before anyone could see her.

~PRAG~

Later, the rangers sat on a bench in front of the hospital.

"Hey, man, great timing." Geo told Roger. "If you were any later that building, and I, would be toast."

Roger nodded with a small smile. "No problem. That's what your teammates are for, right?"

Geo smirked and nodded. "Right."

Cal put a hand on Roger's shoulder. "Are you alright, Roger? I mean, we didn't get to talk to you after you walked out of your brother's room."

"Yeah, I guess." He sighed. "I just feel kinda betrayed. I mean, my brother and I rarely truly get along, but I didn't think that he would hide something like that from me for so long."

"What did he hide from you, if you don't mind me asking." Geo said.

"He has a heart problem; he got it from our mom." Roger replied. "He's known about it for almost a year, and didn't tell me. Not only that, but now its getting worse."

Cal gasped. "Oh my god. Is he gonna be okay?"

Roger shrugged. "The doctor said he'd be alright for now, but I don't know what to take from that. His heart could fail, and he could die."

"That probably won't happen, at least not for a while. Especially not if the doctor said he would at least be alright for now." Geo said. "I mean, I know doctor's can be wrong, and sometimes aren't good at predicting, but you just gotta realize that they have a lot more control over the situation than you do."

"I guess." Roger nodded. "I'm just worried."

"Anyone would be." Cal wrapped her arm around him. "There's nothing wrong with worrying."

They were all silent for a moment before Geo gave them a small smile. "Hey, I have a few extra bucks in my wallet. How about the three of us go to Carlyle's?"

Cal gave him a smile back. "I think I might have some too. How about you let us treat you to an early dinner, Roger? It would get your mind off of things, and help since I doubt your parents will be wanting to make dinner with your brother in the hospital."

Roger scoffed. "My parents are away on business, as usual. It's just me."

"Just you?" Cal asked. "Are you gonna be alright alone? I bet you could stay at Ranger Ops if you wanted."

Roger shook his head. "It's fine, I'm used to it." He shrugged. "That doesn't matter, though. I would love to join you guys, thanks. It means a lot."

"Room for two more?" They heard a voice off to the side and saw Vi and Maya holding hands and walking towards them. "We have money too, don't worry." Maya smirked.

The rangers smiled. Roger nodded. "That would be great."

The three stood up and all five of them began walking in the direction of Carlyle's Diner.

~PRAG~

Terra looked down from her ship at them and groaned loudly. "They defeated another one of my monsters!"

She stormed back towards the throne room, where Jamie was waiting for her. "Mistress, I was..."

"Shut it!" She exclaimed, sitting down angrily in her throne. "Jamie, you are going to do something for me. Something very, very important."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Cal's struggle with fighting comes to a point when she meets Gorilla, an alien that not only represents her power, but also claims to want to be good.

 **I know this chapter was probably a bit confusing with all of the medical terms, but I wanted it to have an authentic feel (even if I got all of the info off of google).**

 **Also, I updated the character page with Maya's bio. I was originally going to introduce her last chapter and then make her more recurring in a few chapters, and I was going to have the scene with Roger on the rooftop have Vi in it, but I wanted to use Maya to show that the rangers have two strong allies on their side that can help when needed, and I've already shown Vi in that role a ton, so I thought this was the perfect time for her to show up!**

 **I really hope you guys like Maya, because she's going to become similar to Vi towards the rangers, and you're going to be seeing her often. Maya was created by an awesome author, ICrzy, who I might add, has some great original Power Ranger stories! I highly recommend!**

 **See you guys soon!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	8. Ep 6: Cal's Struggle

**Hey guys, so I just realized something. I have two characters with the same name, and that might have confused you guys. Terra has a general named Chris, and Roger's brother's name is Chris. I've decided to change Terra's general's name to Jamie to lessen the confusion. I changed it in all of the chapters, but there might be some that I missed, so just keep that in mind if you ever read them and get confused.**

 **Marv is portrayed by Dylan Riley Snyder**

 **Doc is portrayed by Augie Issac**

 **Therese is portrayed by Keke Palmer  
**

* * *

Cal woke up a bit earlier than usual that morning and decided, with a bit of hesitancy, to go on her laptop. Cal never really liked to use her laptop for anything besides homework, and she wasn't big on social media. She did have accounts on a few, and even the apps on her phone, but every time she would look on them, she would always get a twinge of anxiety just at the thought.

She decided that, despite the anxiety the situation caused her, she would check on what has been happening lately. When she went on, however, she found that she had more notifications than she would've liked, and most of them weren't good.

 **_moneymax _:** _ur so ugly_

 **stonerboy34:** _ewww_

 **jenn267350:** _I hate seeing your ugly face on my wall fatass_

 **duannnneeeeeee:** _hahahahaha you actually posted a pic of yourself_

 **alora9953:** _leave her alone guys its not her fault that she's a super ugly loser who sits alone all the time_

Cal began to hyperventilate as she was reading. Her heart was racing. She was scrolling down but had to stop because her hands were shaking too much. She immediately shut her laptop and threw it onto her chair with a quiet cry. She was sweating but felt cold. She felt a bit dizzy. She also felt a bit nauseous.

She took in a shaky deep breath and laid back down in bed, pulling the blankets up to her shoulders and hugging some of them to her chest. Tears rolled down her face and hit the pillow.

After some time, she heard a light rapping at her window. She saw Luna sitting on the roof next to her window, waiting to come in. She took another shaky breath and wiped the tears off of her face and opened the window.

The cat seemed to notice her upset and rubbed up against her. Cal gave her a little smile and pet her. "Thanks, Luna. Come on, let's get you some food."

She got up and opened the door, looking down the hall to see if her mother was there. As she did, she heard a car start, and sighed in relief. She snapped her fingers at the cat, "Come on, Luna, come on!"

The cat followed her out of the room and downstairs where Cal gave her a bowl of food. Cal sat down at the island and looked around the kitchen. After what had just happened, she really didn't feel like eating much.

A knock at the door startled her out of her thoughts. She got up and opened the door to see one of her good friends, Marvin Turner, standing at the door. Marvin was very tall, standing at 6'7, though quite skinny, with ginger hair and brown eyes.

"Hey, Marv, what are you doing here?" She asked, allowing him in.

"I could ask you the same thing," He said, his voice a bit high-pitched for a male. "What are you still doing here, Cal? School starts soon. I came over to see if you wanted to walk together."

"What?" She looked at the time on her oven and gasped. "Oh my god, it lasted _that_ long?"

Marv frowned. "What lasted long?"

Cal was startled by this question. "Umm.. Sleeping. I woke up really early and I went back to bed and slept in." She chuckled awkwardly, hoping he would believe the lie. "Just wait here and I'll get dressed."

"Alright."

Cal grabbed Luna and ran upstairs. She let the cat out of her window and closed it hastily. She grabbed her blouse and quickly buttoned it up. Since most of her skirts were in the wash, she grabbed a pair of shorts and pulled them on, tucking her blouse in. She then put her boots on and decided against her jacket for the day since it was pretty hot out.

She ran back downstairs and looked to Marv, who was standing a bit awkwardly in the spot she left him. "I'm ready, we can go."

"Okay." Marv followed her out of her house and waited for her to lock the door before they began walking. The school was quite close to Cal's house. "So, are you really gonna tell me what took so long that you lied to me about, or do you not wanna talk about it?"

Cal felt a pang of anxiety overcome her and looked down for a moment as they walked. Marv had been the only person she had really told about her anxiety, but she hadn't told him all of the details yet. "Anxiety problems. Nothing big."

"Are you sure? You know you can always talk to me." Marv told her as they approached the school.

Cal nodded, and mustered a fake smile. "Yep, I'm okay."

As they got close, someone pushed past Marv so hard that he fell to the ground, scraping up his knee. The boy who had done so laughed and flashed Cal the middle finger when she frowned at him.

Cal sighed and helped Marv off of the ground. She looked at his knee, which was bleeding pretty badly. "Come on, we should get that bandaged up by the nurse."

Marv brushed himself off and nodded. "Alright."

Cal led him to the nurse's office, only to find Donnovan Crouppen, or Doc, standing there. Doc was quite short, about the same height as Cal, had brown hair and eyes, and looked pretty young, despite being 16. "Doc? Why are you here so early?"

Doc turned, startled by the sudden appearance of people. "Cal? Marv? What are you doing here?"

"Marv needs some band-aids." Cal responded. "The nurse isn't even here yet, why are you here?"

Doc shrugged. "I'd rather be in here and safe than out there with those barbarians." He gestured to some well-known bullies hanging around outside.

Cal looked at them uncomfortably. "Yeah, I guess that's true." She looked absentmindedly at the boys outside, and saw Geo walking outside. "Umm.. I have to go, guys. I'm sorry, its..."

"Fine." Marv assured her. "Go on."

Cal smiled appreciatively. "Thanks." She walked quickly outside and tapped Geo on the shoulder. "Hey." She said when he turned to look at her.

Geo smiled at her. "Hey, Cal. What's up?"

She shrugged. "Nothing, I just saw you and thought I would walk with you."

"Alright." He said.

"So, how are you?"

Geo chuckled. "I'm okay. How are you?"

"I had a bad morning, but I'm alright." She spoke without thinking. She noticed Geo look at her with a bit of concern, and quickly realized what she said. "I woke up a bit late and had to rush. My mom wasn't happy. You know how it is."

The concern disappeared and Geo nodded. "Yeah, I've had that happen before." The bell rang. "I guess we'd better get to class."

Cal nodded. "Right."

On the inside, she cringed. _That couldn't have been more awkward._

~PRAG~

Vi had a free period for sixth, getting her's to match Maya's so they had more time to spend together. Maya usually left before Vi, though, due to the fact that she had a class to help Ben with, and by the time Vi got to the boxing studio, it was often very close to when school actually got out, which usually meant she would be seeing the rangers or Alicia soon.

It often disappointed her that they were both so busy, but she loved her girlfriend, despite their promise not to say so to each other until they were sure of it, and she was bound to her duty as Alicia's intern, which she also loved. She wouldn't lose either of them, but she did feel like she was robbed of time with Maya.

Right as she got to the door, her phone rang. She sighed and pulled it out, seeing it was Alicia. She answered. "Hello?"

 _"Vi, I need you and the rangers to check out a strange energy reading in the forest."_ She said.

Vi looked through the glass door and could see Maya inside. The other girl hadn't noticed her yet, and Vi took a deep breath, and stepped away from the door and out of Maya's possible line of vision. "What does it look like? A monster?"

 _"It might be, but it's not exactly giving off that reading. I want you to go with the rangers in case it's something useful for us against the Animali. The rangers are smart, but they wouldn't know if it was important or not. I trust you would know what to do in a situation like that."_

Vi nodded, despite the fact that Alicia couldn't see her. "Alright, I'll call them and see if any of them are free. If not, I'll go on my own."

 _"Okay, good luck, Vi."_

"Thanks, Alicia." Vi hung up, and proceeded to call each of the rangers. Geo was busy with hockey, and Roger was doing some extra work for his honors English class, but thankfully, Cal was free. "Cal, can you meet me on the edge of the forest? Alicia found some strange readings."

She heard Cal sigh from the other end. _"Are Geo or Roger available?"_

"No, but I would've called you even if they were. Are you free?"

 _"Yeah, I'll be there."_ She said, though she sounded like she really didn't want to.

Vi said goodbye, hung up, and began to walk towards the forest on the edge of town. By the time she got there, she found Cal waiting there for her, sitting under a tree with a sketchbook in her hands and earbuds in her ears. Vi approached her from behind and peered over her shoulder. Cal was drawing a very realistic picture of a girl who had tears running down her face, seeming to sit very insecurely in a chair, with hateful words surrounding her.

Vi noticed that she was very good at drawing, and that Cal was much different in her inner thoughts than in her outer self. She hesitantly tapped her on the shoulder, startling her and causing her to hastily close her sketchbook.

Cal took her earbuds out and turned to her. "Vi, you scared me!" She looked between the intern and her sketchbook, noticing the way Vi was eyeing it. "You didn't...?"

Vi nodded. "I saw. Are you alright, Cal?"

The blue ranger looked at her defensively, almost a glare on her face. "I'm fine." She looked around. "Why are we here?"

"Are you...?"

"I'm fine!" Cal exclaimed, putting her hands up in exasperation. "Just tell me what we're looking for!"

Vi looked a bit hurt at the yelling, but she knew she touched on a subject that was too private for Cal to share. "There was an energy reading out here, but I'm not sure what it was."

"Alright, stay here, I'll check it out first to make sure there's no danger. You keep watch." Cal told her, and before she got a chance to respond, Cal was already walking away, her backpack slung over her shoulder with all of her things inside.

Cal eventually came across a clearing and stared in shock. She saw a monster, Gorilla, fighting off another ranger. It was a female yellow ranger who was about 3 inches taller than her and appeared to be more muscular than her.

The yellow ranger flipped over the monster and kicked it down before landing. Cal felt a pang of confusion and guilt when she saw the monster fall and actually cower away from this ranger.

 _Is it.. afraid? Monsters don't get afraid._ She thought to herself.

She saw the yellow ranger get into a defensive stance in front of the monster, though she hesitated.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" She asked, frowning deeply under her helmet.

Gorilla just put his hands up to protect his head, cowering in fear as the yellow ranger stood above him. The yellow ranger brought her sword up, but continued to look on in confusion.

Cal pressed her thumb hard into her pendant, calling her sword out. She quickly ran in and put her sword up to catch the yellow ranger's on her own.

"What are you doing?!" Cal demanded. "Who are you?!"

The yellow ranger was taken aback. "Me? Who are _you_?! I'm a power ranger, and you shouldn't be here!"

Cal rolled her eyes. "Actually, I'm a ranger too! Where else would I have gotten this sword from?"

The yellow ranger looked at her warily for a moment before backing down. "You're an Animal Guardian, aren't you? Alicia's rangers?"

"How did you know that?" Cal asked, putting her sword down hesitantly.

The yellow ranger powered down, revealing a young African American woman, with dark skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. She wore a yellow top under a gray cardigan, black skirt, and yellow flats. Her hair was back in braids instead of the usual way she straightened it.

"I'm Therese Price, the yellow Ancient Animals ranger." She held her hand out, which Cal shook.

"I'm Callie Campbell, but you can call me Cal. I'm the blue ranger." Cal said in response. "Though you could probably tell." She chuckled nervously, gesturing to her blue top.

Therese laughed. "Yeah, I can, but it's fine." She gestured past Cal at the monster. "What are you gonna do about that?"

Cal turned and looked back, almost forgetting that Gorilla was sitting there. She stood in front of him awkwardly, watching him continue to cower even though they had stopped fighting.

"Are you... not evil?" She asked, a bit hesitantly.

Gorilla whimpered. "I just wanted to walk through the forest! That's all, I swear!"

Therese sighed from behind Cal. "He has to be telling the truth. He didn't attack me at all, I went after him."

"Well, if you're not evil, then what are you doing here? Where are you from?" Cal asked.

"I'm from Terra's army, but I don't wanna fight! Jamie picked me out!" He exclaimed.

Cal frowned. "Who's Jamie?"

Therese stared in confusion for a moment, before she caught on. "Jamie is Julie's brother. Julie is a shapeshifter who my team met in this labyrinth alongside her brother, Jamie."

"You're right, Therese." A voice came from a bit away.

It was Jamie, standing there with a smirk on his face. "Gorilla, you're going to fight, or I'm going to kill these girls." He took a blaster out of his belt and pointed it at the two, shocking them.

Gorilla growled. "Leave them alone!"

Jamie shook his head. "Wrong answer."

Just as Jamie pulled the trigger, Gorilla jumped in front of the girls and took the blast for them, landing off the the side, unmoving. The two girls stood, shocked, as did Jamie.

Then, Cal huffed in anger and ripped her pendant off. She jammed it in her morpher and quickly morphed, calling for her sword and blaster. While Jamie was distracted she blasted him in the shoulder. She ran over, clashing swords with him a few times before landing a hit.

He hissed, and Cal noticed he was bleeding. She was shocked, and hesitated before her next hit, which caused her to get knocked back.

"Cal!" Therese cried, going over to check on her.

Cal pushed out of Therese's grasp and ran at him again, clashing swords and blasting each other every chance they got, but never backing down for either of them. Therese watched them as she pulled Gorilla to his feet, and smiled softly in remembrance.

 _~Flashback~_

 _"Ready?"_

 _"Ready!"_

 _"Ancient Animals Power Up!" The called._

 _"Power Of The Velociraptor!"_

 _"Power Of The Apatosaurus!"_

 _"Power Of The Saber-Tooth Tiger!"_

 _"We are Power Rangers Ancient Animals, Ha!"_

 _"You act as if that will change the odds." Terra rolled her eyes._

 _"Trust us, it will." Keith assured her. "Luke, Therese, get the Chimera, I'll take on Ms. Webb over here."_

 _"It's Terra!" Terra yelled as the Chimera and she charged forward. She immediately turned into her full alien form and charged at Keith, taking out her sword and swinging it at him. He swung his Velociraptor Sword at her at the same time and they were both thrown back. Terra growled as she stood back up and cornered Keith against the ground with her sword and Chimera surrounding him._

 _"God, Keith." Luke shook his head and broke his rule to stay away from Terra and ran in._

 _"Ancient Sword!" He called, getting the new swords Dr. Powers had created for them. He slashed through the group of Chimera._

 _"Oh, you're still alive?" Terra asked as she pulled Kieth to his feet and held him there, catching Luke sword on hers as well. "Let me change that!" She slashed both guys and they hit a wall, causing it to break on top of them._

 _"Guys!" Therese yelled, her anger rising as she began to light on fire. She threw some of the flames at Terra, who cried out in pain, turning back to her half-human form. Her skin was scorched even more than yesterday, with the old burn wounds getting burned again._

 _"You can't control your powers, eventually you'll light up and it will stay forever!" Terra yelled._

 _"I can control it." Therese retorted, even though she wasn't sure. She extinguished the flames and concentrated. She pulled her hands back and a flame appeared in her hands and she threw it out at Terra, who got hit in the stomach and was thrown back, a large scorch mark on her suit. She quickly retreated._

 _~End of Flashback~_

Therese watched Cal get knocked back a bit, but kicked off against a tree, coming back towards Jamie, and quickly proceeded the kick him down. Jamie growled and swept her legs out from under her before pointing his blaster directly at her.

"You rangers can't win!" He screamed at her, almost insanely. "You can't!"

"Get off of her!" Gorilla yelled, charging at Jamie and tackling him out of the way, but accidentally letting a blast loose that hit Cal in the arm. She yelped and quickly turned over, clutching her arm close. The fabric on her sleeve was burned and ripped through, leaving her to see a bright red burn on her arm.

Therese quickly ran over to help her up, and they watched Gorilla throw Jamie to the side like a rag-doll, almost positively knocking him out.

Gorilla turned to the two girls, and gently took Cal's arm in his hands. "I'm sorry he hurt you."

Cal smiled admiringly. "I'm okay, thank you for saving us."

Gorilla shook his head. "You're not okay, but I'll make it right." He held his hands over her wound, and it started to glow a bright blue. When he was done, he took his hands off to see that she was healed.

"How did you...?"

"You are the Gorilla guardian, and my power can help you." He kneeled before her, making her stand a bit awkwardly in front of him.

Suddenly, Jamie's stumbled to his feet and blasted Gorilla in the back before disappearing before them. "No!" Cal cried.

Cal ran over to check on the monster, but he was fatally wounded. "Cal!" Geo and Roger came running towards them out of nowhere. "What...?" Geo trailed off when the two got closer, and saw Cal weeping over a monster, and Therese standing there, whom they didn't know.

"What the hell is going on?" Roger asked.

Cal stood up and gestured to the monster, who had now passed. "He saved me, and now he's dead." She felt a panic attack coming on. "I.. I have to.. go." She stumbled over her words as she grabbed her backpack once more and ran off, leaving Geo, Roger, and Therese alone.

Geo and Roger almost went after her, but Therese stopped them. "Leave her. She needs some time alone."

Meanwhile, Cal ran deeper into the forest eventually fell to her knees next to a large oak tree and sobbed. She leaned against the tree, drew her knees up to her chest, and rested her head on her knees as she did so.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and was startled into looking up in shock. She saw that it was Vi, and she was caught. She felt her anxiety peak as she stared at Vi like a deer caught in headlights.

"Wha... What are you doing here?" Cal asked, trying to scoot away from Vi.

Vi looked down at her sympathetically and suddenly wrapped her arms around Cal, who sat there in shock. "I know you're hurting, Cal, and that's okay. You don't have to tell me or anyone you want about it, but if you do, I'm here for you. I may not understand what you're going through, but I'm always here to talk."

Cal sat there, still in shock for a few moments before squeezing her eyes shut and tightly hugging Vi back.

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** As the homecoming dance comes up, Roger takes it upon himself to get all three of the rangers dates, much to Geo and Cal's chagrin. Meanwhile, Alicia has Vi and Maya check out another strange energy reading, but neither of them can understand it.

 **Okay, so I didn't like this chapter much, but I would hate even more to rewrite it, especially since it took me forever to force myself to write this one. I mean, I liked the Cal scenes, but I didn't like how it all came together.**

 **Oh, and I put that 'flashback' to Ancient Animals in there because I wanted to show that I have improved my writing since 2013, and even since 2014. I think I'm still improving, and I'm proud of where I am today compared to back then.**

 **Anyways, if you liked the chapter, feel free to leave a review!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	9. Ep 7: Homecoming

**Hey, I have an announcement! Recently I got a cover video made for me for my Data Surge story by another awesome author, and I decided that I wanted one for this story as well, so I decided to figure out how to make one! It took me a long while to figure it out, and it's pretty amateur, but it's there! The link is on my profile - let me know what you think!**

 **The other thing is that this chapter marks the first appearance of two more rangers! One of the rangers will only appear in morph, though, so you'll have to wait a bit longer to see him/her.**

 **Also, sorry it took so long to get this out. I said on my Data Surge story that I would get this out on Valentine's Day, but I got a bit busy, so here it is now!**

 **Tanzo is portrayed by Toru Uchikado**

 **Karma is portrayed by Hope Solo  
**

* * *

Cal sat in her English class, quite bored. The teacher was talking about the new book they were gonna read, but wasn't bother to stop anybody from doing what they wanted, meaning most people were slacking off. She sighed and put her head in her hands.

In the class, the desks were arranged so everyone was in pairs of two. The teacher only changed them once, and he said he didn't seem keen on switching them again.

Cal heard a light snore from beside her and looked to see the boy sitting next to her with his face pressed against his arms, sleeping. She chuckled.

"Exactly how I feel," She whispered.

"I think that's how everybody feels," He mumbled, waking from his nap.

Cal was startled by his awakening. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

He waved it off with a smile. "No biggie. I'm Tanzo," Tanzo was 5'10, and of Asian descent with brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a yellow shirt with long white sleeves, tan cargo shorts, and white sneakers. "And you're Callie, huh?"

She nodded, smiling. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"I guess I just pay attention to people," He smirked, making her laugh. "Plus, you are in the same class as me so it's not hard to figure out who you are."

"I guess I don't pay as much attention as you do. I don't know half of these people," Cal said.

Tanzo chuckled. "I know the majority of these people. All of them pretty much like me."

A boy from a nearby desk leaned over, having heard them. "I don't like you." He muttered before leaning back to his own desk.

Cal raised an eyebrow in shock, and Tanzo shrugged. "I said pretty much, not all. It's okay if one or two people don't like me."

"I'm surprised you're not upset." Cal commented.

"Nah, it's okay. He might have a problem with me, but I don't have a problem with him." He leaned towards the boy. "I like you." Cal chuckled a bit.

The boy turned in his seat, irritated. "Excuse me?"

Tanzo chuckled. "You said you didn't like me. Well, I like you."

"You know what I do like? Beating up people who disrespect me," The boy growled.

Tanzo couldn't help himself from smirking. "Oh yeah? Good luck, tough guy."

He leaned back in his own seat and shrugged at Cal. "I think he might be mad."

She laughed. "Probably."

Suddenly, the door opened and Roger came into the class with a stack of books in his hands. Cal rose an eyebrow at him, but he walked to the front of the class and dropped the books off. As he was leaving, he passed by Cal's desk and smirked at Tanzo making a remark that made Cal laugh once more.

She gave him a strange look as he passed by, but as Tanzo said something else, she ignored Roger's glance.

 **~Cue Opening (Link in Profile)~**

Roger and Geo sat in math class in a three way group with them and a girl across from them. She was about 5'8 with brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a blue tube top with a black studded leather jacket over the top, white short shorts, and black vans.

Roger looked over at Geo, and he knew he would never put himself out there to get someone to go to the dance, which Roger assumed he wasn't even going to.

"Hey, Geo," He nudged him. "Will you go compare these answers to another tables? I wanna know if we got them right."

Geo nodded. "Sure."

After Geo left, Roger turned to the girl. "Hey, you're Karma, right?"

She looked up, and nodded with a smile. "Yeah."

"So, you know the guy who sits here, right? His name's Geo?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, we did a few projects together in science last year."

"I see." Roger smiled. "Do you have anyone to go with to the dance tomorrow?"

"No, why?" She asked innocently.

He chuckled. "Well, neither does Geo, and I thought maybe you two could go with each other. Just as friends," He added, when he saw her raise her eyebrows questioningly.

"Oh, yeah. That would be really fun!" She smiled.

"Great." Roger smirked.

~PRAG~

After school, Cal and Tanzo walked out together, talking and laughing, which was a rarity for Cal with someone she just met. Suddenly, Roger came by and stole Tanzo away while Cal watched on.

Geo came up to her as they saw the two talking. Tanzo peered past Roger at Cal, and then they exchanged a few words before Tanzo waved at her and walked off to join his friends.

When Roger came back, Cal gave him a look. "What did you say to him, Roger?"

Roger got in the middle of the two and pulled them in the direction of the diner, which was pretty close to the school. "Come on, we should get to the diner before we discuss this."

"Discuss what?" Geo asked, frowning as they walked up the walkway and into the diner.

Roger and the two sat down at their usual spot, which at this point was reserved for them. "Okay, so today I did something for the two of you."

"That's scary," Geo commented. "What did you do?"

"Well, you both know that the homecoming dance is tomorrow night, and I knew you guys didn't have dates, so I got you some." Roger smiled. "You're welcome."

The two looked at him angrily. "What?!" Cal exclaimed. "With who?"

"You're going with your new best friend, Tanzo," Roger then turned to Geo. "You're going with Karma."

"Karma?" Cal asked before Geo could even speak. "You do know that she's never had a boyfriend before, right? And she's easily pretty easily hurt."

Roger smiled. "I got that covered. I told her they would go as friends, and she's totally cool with it." He turned back towards Geo. "If you do make a move on her, go easy."

Geo rolled his eyes nonchalantly, as if the situation didn't bother him as much as it did. "I'm not gonna make a move on her."

"Dude, she's hot. I wouldn't blame you if you did." Roger nudged him.

"I'm not gonna make a move on her." Geo repeated, crossing his arms. "I'm serious. I'm not looking for a relationship right now."

Roger put his hands up in a mock surrender. "Okay, no big deal. Just saying." He looked at both of them. "Just meet me here tomorrow at 6:45 and we'll meet them together."

Cal and Geo sighed. "Fine."

~PRAG~

The next day, Alicia went to Ben's boxing studio to find Vi and Maya, whom she knew would be hanging out there like they did on Saturdays. She found Vi sitting on a bench next to the ring staring at Maya while she sparred with a student.

Alicia walked over and sat next to her. "Hey," She greeted.

Vi was startled out of her stupor and looked at her. "Hey. You scared me," She chuckled. "What's up? Is there something you need me to do?"

"Actually, I was thinking that you and Maya could do it together." Alicia said. "Remember how there were strange energy readings when Therese was in the forest fighting Gorilla?" Vi nodded. "Well, there are some more of them, and the rangers deserve to have a little time of, so I thought you two could check it out, and if it's too much, just call them."

"What kind of readings are they?" Vi asked, taking Alicia's tablet out of her hands to look at the readings herself.

Alicia took a deep breath. "I think one of the other rangers might have discovered their powers on accident or something."

Vi narrowed her eyes at the chart. "This doesn't seem like a random thing, though. I think this might be.. you know..."

"No way," Alicia shook her head. "She doesn't want to work with us, remember?"

"Which is exactly why it might be her," Vi responded. "Maybe Maya and I can talk to her about it."

Alicia shrugged. "I don't think it'll help, but you can try."

Vi nodded as Ben came out of the back.

"Here, I'll get Ben to let Maya go, alright?" Alicia stood up and walked over to her husband with a smile. "So, I might need a favor from you,"

Ben chuckled and kissed her. "You need Vi?"

"And Maya," Alicia nodded.

Ben sighed. "Alright, they can go. Only because you asked so politely." He smirked.

She laughed. "Thank you," She turned towards the two and called out, "Maya, you're free to go! Vi will fill you in!" Maya stopped sparring with a thumbs up towards Alicia, and followed Vi out of the studio. Alicia smiled after them. "They're so cute. I hope I have kids like them."

Ben raised his eyebrows. "You want kids?"

Alicia nodded. "Of course. Why, do you not?"

"Well, I mean, I've never exactly thought about it. Come on, I'm pretty young to be thinking about that, don't you think?"

Alicia frowned. "I'm young too."

"Older than me," Ben crossed his arms. "I mean, I'm only 21. You're almost thirty."

"Do you have a problem with that?" Alicia asked, mocking his pose.

Ben sighed. "Alicia, it's okay. I don't wanna talk about this if it's just gonna start an argument."

"Fine, then we won't talk about it," Alicia began to walk away. "Ever."

~PRAG~

As Maya and Vi walked, Maya kept glancing over at her girlfriend with a smirk, while Vi was looking on the tablet to find the energy source.

"Why do you keep looking at me?" Vi chuckled, looking up at her.

"Because I got you something," Maya reached into her bag and pulled out two tickets to the dance. "I know it's a bit short notice, and I was gonna tell you yesterday, but we didn't see each other, so I waited until now."

Vi smiled a bit in disappointment. "But Maya, don't you think we're a bit busy for a dance? I mean, I don't even have a dress, and I don't think you do either."

"I bought one," Maya told her, looking to be quite upset. "You could borrow one from Emma or Cal. Even Ginger or Alicia would give you one. Just go with me! You can meet me outside of the school tonight."

"But..."

"No buts!" Maya exclaimed. "We never do anything together! Can't we just do this?!"

Vi sighed. "Alright, we will. I'll ask around and see if I can find a dress, but we need to do this first,"

Maya nodded and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. Priorities, priorities."

Vi gave her a look, but said nothing as they reached the woods on the outskirts of town. The two trekked quietly towards the energy reading, where they saw a female ranger punching a tree pretty hard, seemingly practicing.

"Hey!" Maya called to her as the two near her. She turned suddenly, and stared at them, almost as if she was glaring.

"Who are you, and what the hell do you want?" She growled.

Maya scoffed. "Wow, you're friendly."

Vi nudged her. "Ignore her. I'm Viola Thomas, Alicia's intern. I assume you two have met."

"We have," The girl crossed her arms. "So?"

"So," Vi smiled. "I was hoping, maybe, you could join us?"

The girl gave her a look. "Join you? As in the other rangers?" She shook her head. "No way." She reached towards her belt a pulled out a large axe. The two backed away defensively as she gestured at them with it. "Don't come back here."

Maya glared at her. "You think you can just threaten us like this? No way," She tried to continue to talk, but Vi put a hand over her mouth and pulled her away. Once they were out of the forest, Vi took her hand off of her mouth.

"Maya, you can't do that!" Vi exclaimed. "You have to be nice about these things! They take time! Obviously, she didn't want us there, and considering she has the weapon, I think you should leave it at that!"

Maya frowned. "Did you hear the way she was talking to us? She can't do that! That's totally rude and uncalled for!"

Vi put her hands up to stop her from saying anything further. "I'll see you tonight," She muttered before walking off, leaving Maya to herself.

~PRAG~

As Cal was doing a bit of light makeup on her face in the bathroom, and had just finished getting her hair curled by her mother, Rebecca came back with something behind her back. Cal gave her a strange look.

"What?" She asked.

Her mother smiled. "Since you told me yesterday that you were going to the dance, I was so excited that I got you something."

Cal returned the smile brightly. "Really? Mom, you didn't have to do that,"

Rebecca chuckled. "Oh yes, I did. Here," She handed her a bag and a box. "Try these on."

Her mother left the room, so Cal sat down on the edge of the bathtub and opened her gifts from her mother. She was stunned. Her mother had bought her a pair of strappy gold heels to wear with a short-sleeved retro blue dress that came down to her knees and had a sweetheart neck line.

She put the dress on carefully, as she had never seen such a beautiful dress before, and then put the shoes on. She finished and looked in the mirror. Almost always when she looked in the mirror, she felt extremely insecure, but in the dress, she felt quite confident and beautiful.

Cal walked out of the bathroom to show her mother, who looked to be close to tears. "You look even more beautiful than I did in that dress, Callie," Rebecca told her. "I wore that dress to my first homecoming in freshmen year of high school, and I figured I should give it to you for your first homecoming."

"I feel so beautiful, mom," Cal smiled, almost in tears as well. "Thank you so much."

As she embraced her mother, a ring at the doorbell interrupted them. "Is that your date?" Rebecca asked, seeming excited.

Cal shook her head. "No, I'm meeting him at the dance." She walked downstairs and opened the door to find Vi standing there, looking a bit frantic. "Vi? What are you doing here?"

"I didn't know where else to go," Vi invited herself in without Cal's permission. "My cousin is busy at work tonight, and Ginger's helping Maya so I don't wanna go to her, and Alicia's mad at Ben or something and I need a dress for the dance."

Cal smiled. "You're going to the dance? Aww," She looked up the stairs at her mother, who was waiting for her. "Okay, we have twenty minutes before we go, so come on. Let's get you ready!"

~PRAG~

Maya stood with Ginger, complaining while the older woman did her hair. "...I mean, can you believe it? She just walked off without another word! It's totally not fair!"

"Well, in her defense, you shouldn't have acted like that," Ginger told her as she continued to fishtail Maya's hair. "Vi's just looking out for you Maya. I wasn't there, but from what it sounds like, if that girl was pointing a large weapon at you, you really shouldn't have been yelling at her."

Maya glared at her in the mirror. "She shouldn't have been pointing a large weapon at us in the first place."

"Of course not, but she was. If she was pointing it at Vi, would you want her to mouth off to her?" Ginger asked. Maya didn't respond. "That's what I thought." Ginger tied her hair and had her stand up.

Maya had on a navy blue 'skater' dress with black stripes starting from her waist, and wore the boots she usually wore. Her hair was on her right shoulder in her fishtail braid, and as usual, she had no makeup on.

"You look gorgeous." Ginger smiled, putting her hands on Maya's shoulders to spin her around. "Vi won't know what hit her."

"You think?" Maya had a small smile.

Ginger nodded. "Definitely."

~PRAG~

Cal and Vi walked as long as Carlyle's Diner before Vi decided to go wait outside of the school for Maya, with a promise to also wait for her, Roger, and Geo. When she got there, she found only Roger there waiting for her, wearing a black dress shirt, dress pants, and shoes. He was tugging at the collar when Cal came over to him.

"You seem uncomfortable." Cal commented, startling him.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I hate this shirt." He tugged at the collar once more. "Geo and Karma already met up and walked over there, so I guess it's just the two of us."

He put his arm out for her, which she took with a laugh. "So, where's your date?" She asked.

Roger laughed mockingly. "Well, I guess in my quest to get you two dates, I forgot to get one of my own." Cal chuckled in response. "It's cool, though. I like dancing alone."

"Don't worry, I'll try to break away and dance with you at least once." Cal offered as they reached the school. "Since you so kindly decided to get me to go and walk me there."

He chuckled. "Thanks,"

As they got outside of the gym, they saw Maya sitting a bit dejectedly outside of the gym. "Hey, Maya," Roger asked as they approached, him and Cal unlinking their arms. "What's wrong?"

"I saw Vi, and she looked so beautiful, and then she saw me, and walked away like I was nothing," Maya said, pursing her lips angrily.

Cal frowned. "Well, she did say she was upset with you." She put her hand on Maya's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Maya." She looked up at Roger for assistance, but he just shrugged. "Why don't you come in with us after we find Tanzo, and you and Roger can dance until we find Vi?"

Maya looked up at Roger. "What happened to your date?"

"I was preoccupied finding Cal and Geo dates, and didn't end up asking anyone." Roger muttered. "I would be happy to take you in while we wait for Vi, though."

Maya gave him a small smile and nodded. "Okay, thanks guys." She hugged both of them.

"Hey, guys!" Tanzo called as he walked over. He was dressed in a dark suit with black shirt and gold tie. He looked Cal over after giving her a sudden hug. "You look amazing! I've never seen you so dressed up before!"

Cal shrugged, blushing. "Yeah, I usually don't like dressing up,"

"Well, you should start! Look at you," Tanzo put an arm around her. He gestured to Maya as he looked to Roger. "This is your date? I'm Tanzo," He put a hand out towards her.

She shook it awkwardly. "I'm Maya, and I'm not his date. We're just.. acquaintances. My girlfriend.. went somewhere, so we're gonna go in together since he doesn't have a date."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Okay, yeah, let's make this about me not having a date,"

Cal ignored him. "So, you guys wanna go in?"

The three nodded and they all went in. Inside, Geo and Karma sat at a table while Karma was talking about something that Geo was having a hard time paying attention to over the music and other loud talking. In all honesty, Geo felt quite uncomfortable around so many people, and was surprised that no one else felt that way. When he walked in, he had seen Eli and his date, Raina, and asked how he felt about all of this, and they seemed fine with it. He saw the others walk in, and tapped Karma on the arm.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"My friend are here, if you wanna meet them," Geo told her.

She smiled. "Of course!"

Geo waved them over, and they all smiled and joined them at the table. "Karma, this is Cal, Maya, Cal's date Tanzo, and you already know Roger."

They all exchanged greetings before settling into an almost uncomfortable silence. The group began to talk awkwardly, while Cal looked around. There were people everywhere, and some of them were very close to her. Instead of feeling confident like she did when she was at home and before she went in, she began to feel very uncomfortable with everyone.

She took some deep breaths to try to avoid a panic, but it was coming on quicker than she could stop it. However, she was pulled out of her thoughts when Tanzo pulled her up out of her seat to dance to a slow song. Karma and Geo and Maya and Roger got up as well.

Cal didn't feel anymore comfortable dance than she did sitting, but at least she felt a bit distracted as Tanzo tried to start a conversation with her. Geo and Karma danced a bit awkwardly beside them, not at all talking, while Maya and Roger also danced near them.

"Are you okay?" Roger asked as he saw the look on Maya's face.

Maya shrugged. "I don't know. I just.. this whole thing with Vi is hard. We never have time to hang out, and when we do hang out, something always pulls us away. Then, she gets mad at me, and the one thing I wanted to do with her, I'm not doing with her."

"Why is she mad?"

She sighed. "Well, there was this other ranger, who's supposed to be on this team, but she threatened us with an axe not to come back to her because I guess she likes to fight on her own, and I got mad that she tried to threaten us, and Vi got mad that I got mad."

Roger frowned. "Don't think that this is all that I heard from that, but what do mean another ranger for this team? I thought we were the only ones,"

"No. Alicia didn't tell you?" Roger shook his head. "There are eight pendants, and eight morphers. The only thing is that some of the rangers don't know they're rangers, and some of them aren't able to help yet, or just plain don't want to."

"Well, why don't we tell them and get them to help? I mean, it's not like we couldn't use it."

Maya shrugged. "I don't know, you'd have to ask Alicia or.. Vi," Maya stared off behind him, and Roger turned to see what she was staring at. Standing almost directly behind him was Vi, looking upset.

"What are you doing?" Vi asked, frowning. "I thought you said you would wait outside for me."

Maya gave her a look. "You looked straight at me and walked away, so I came in with them." She gestured to the group. "Why did you walk away?"

"I didn't see you," Vi shook her head. "I left because I was planning to go to the side of the gym where they were selling flowers so I could get you one!" She exclaimed, throwing it to the floor.

"Don't do that!" Maya picked up the flower. "Look, I just thought you had left me because you were angry! That's the only reason I came in."

Roger nodded. "And I offered to dance with her because she was really upset."

"Yeah, well so am I!" Vi growled. "You know what? I am..."

She was cut off by a loud shattering sound and screams. The rangers, Vi, and Maya looked up to see more than half of the roof, which was a skylight was crashing to the floor.

"Run!" Geo exclaimed.

Everyone in the gym was trying to get out of the way, but the glass crashed down before most could get out of the way, including the rangers, Vi, Maya, and Tanzo.

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** The rangers gain another, but are confused about why, if there are other rangers, why they don't have them to help. Meanwhile, Vi and Maya face problems with their relationship.

 **Usually, since the next part is considered part 2, I would just say continued in part 2, but I decided that since the next chapter will have a different name, that I would just give you the description.**

 **Anyways, Maya and Vi are having some problems.. I wonder what will happen with that...**

 **Also, you may already know who the next ranger is, but you can let me know your thoughts on it! I will be adding the character's description to the character bios, but I will not be updating the cover photo or video until the next ranger comes in, which will be soon!**

 **As usual, I always appreciate reviews!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	10. Ep 8: Yellow Ranger

**Hey** **guys! Sorry I was so late on updating, but here I am! Anyways, I'm typing this on an IPad, so forgive me for spelling errors.**

* * *

 **Previously on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

She sighed. "Well, there was this other ranger, who's supposed to be on this team, but she threatened us with an axe not to come back to her because I guess she likes to fight on her own, and I got mad that she tried to threaten us, and Vi got mad that I got mad."

Roger frowned. "Don't think that this is all that I heard from that, but what do mean another ranger for this team? I thought we were the only ones,"

"No. Alicia didn't tell you?" Roger shook his head. "There are eight pendants, and eight morphers. The only thing is that some of the rangers don't know they're rangers, and some of them aren't able to help yet, or just plain don't want to."

"Well, why don't we tell them and get them to help? I mean, it's not like we couldn't use it."

Maya shrugged. "I don't know, you'd have to ask Alicia or.. Vi," Maya stared off behind him, and Roger turned to see what she was staring at. Standing almost directly behind him was Vi, looking upset.

"What are you doing?" Vi asked, frowning. "I thought you said you would wait outside for me."

Maya gave her a look. "You looked straight at me and walked away, so I came in with them." She gestured to the group. "Why did you walk away?"

"I didn't see you," Vi shook her head. "I left because I was planning to go to the side of the gym where they were selling flowers so I could get you one!" She exclaimed, throwing it to the floor.

"Don't do that!" Maya picked up the flower. "Look, I just thought you had left me because you were angry! That's the only reason I came in."

Roger nodded. "And I offered to dance with her because she was really upset."

"Yeah, well so am I!" Vi growled. "You know what? I am..."

She was cut off by a loud shattering sound and screams. The rangers, Vi, and Maya looked up to see more than half of the roof, which was a skylight was crashing to the floor.

"Run!" Geo exclaimed.

Everyone in the gym was trying to get out of the way, but the glass crashed down before most could get out of the way, including the rangers, Vi, Maya, and Tanzo.

 **Now**

Geo coughed under the rubble and glass, hearing people cry out around him.

"Roger? Cal?" He called, pushing glass off of him. He was a bit scraped up, but nothing too bad. He felt someone trying to help him, and found it was Karma, who he had thrown out of the way when the glass came crashing down. "Are you alright?"

She frowned as she helped him up. "I'm fine. You saved my life! I was worried about you!"

"I'm okay," He assured her. He saw a large bird-like monster struggling to get up. "You need to get out of here,"

"Are you sure? I..."

"Go! I'll help them get out, but it's too dangerous for you!" Geo exclaimed.

Karma nodded, more than a little shaken up. "Okay, if you're sure," She ran out, looking back only once before leaving.

Once she left, Geo dug as calmly as he could under the rubble. He quickly located Cal, who coughed as Geo helped her up. Her pendant was glowing, as was Geo's. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, a bit shocked. "Yeah," She looked around. "You get Roger, I'll get Tanzo!"

He nodded in agreement and the two went their separate ways. Geo stepped carefully on the glass and rubble before he saw a faint black glow from under some of it. He pushed it off of the black ranger before helping him up. "Roger, you good?"

He took a deep breath, dusting himself off. "Yeah, I think so," He looked at his shirt, noticing how it was ripped and dirty. "Good riddance."

He then reached down to help Vi up, who looked stunned. She had a small cut on her cheek, and she held her wrist tightly against her chest. She looked around. "Maya? Maya?" She fell to the floor and began digging through the rubble with her good hand to find her girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Cal saw a faint yellow glow under the rubble. She looked at it warily before removing it carefully, finding the glow emitting from under Tanzo's collar. He coughed and sat up, dusting himself off.

"Whoa, that was crazy," He commented with a laugh.

Cal frowned. "What is that?" She asked, gesturing to his neck.

He looked down at his neck to see a yellow glow. He pulled out a pendant around his neck, which had an elephant on it. Cal stared at it in shock, and watched him look in shock at her pendant also glowing.

"I could ask you the same thing, I guess," He commented, gesturing to her pendant.

Cal continued to stare in shock, tapping Geo on the shoulder. He turned around and followed her line of vision to see what she was looking at. He, and Roger, also stared in shock.

"Vi," Roger said distractedly.

Vi paused in her digging to look over, and her eyes widened. "Oh my god," She looked down, seeing Maya's arm coming into view, and back over at Tanzo's glowing pendant. "We need to uhh.. call Alicia."

"On it," Geo whispered, turning around to talk into his morpher. While he talked, he also watched the monster behind him, which seemed quite injured.

"What is going on?" Tanzo asked, as Vi began to dig once again.

Roger chuckled nervously, trying to act nonchalant. "Long story, we'll explain later." He looked behind him, seeing the monster almost get up. "We have something more serious to deal with right now."

"What is that thing?" Tanzo stood up, staring at the creature in shock.

Cal looked back at him, a bit unsure of how to answer his question. "Umm.. an alien," She chuckled nervously.

"Look," Geo put his hands up as Tanzo opened his mouth to speak again. "We don't have time for this. We'll explain later."

Roger shrugged. "Not like I didn't just say that," He muttered under his breath.

"Ready?" Geo asked, taking his pendant off.

"Ready," Cal and Roger took their's off as well.

"Animal Guardians, Arise!"

"Power of the Eagle!"

"Power of the Bear!"

"Power of the Gorilla!"

Crow stood up and squawked loudly at them. "You'll never beat me, Power Rangers!"

They drew their weapons, but Crow flapped his wings and rose above them, flying through them and knocking them over. They cried out in pain, and Tanzo stared in shock when Crow rounded on him.

"You have a pendant!" Crow screeched. "Give it here!"

Tanzo grabbed onto his pendant and squeezed it tight. "Never you overgrown chicken!"

Crow flew at him, but Tanzo ducked and grabbed onto the alien's feet and dragged it down. Crow cried out in anger.

The rangers stood up and blocked him off. "I think you should go outside, Tanzo." Geo commented, pushing him back as Crow tried to stand up.

"But, I..."

"Just wait for us outside." Roger said, pushing him back as well.

The rangers rushed at Crow again while Vi finally pulled Maya out of the rubble. Maya was a bit bruised up, but what was really concerning was the large gash on her head that caused her to be unconscious.

"Maya!" Vi shook her shoulders, but the girl didn't wake up.

"She doesn't look good," Tanzo commented from behind her.

Vi glared. "I can see that." She growled through gritted teeth. She pressed a few buttons on a bracelet around her wrist and she and Maya disappeared into thin air.

Tanzo stared at the spot they were once in, before walking out, taking one last glance at the rangers before deciding what he was going to do.

Meanwhile, the rangers continued to fight Crow. As Geo was thrown back, Cal tried to land a hit on the bird-like alien, but Crow launched himself up into the air and disappeared before they could do anything.

Roger helped Geo up and stared up out of the broken ceiling. "He'll be back."

"Definitely." Cal nodded.

The three demorphed. "Our parents are probably freaking out right now. This has to be all over the news," Geo muttered.

Roger rolled his eyes. "I'd be surprised if my parents found out about this," He scoffed.

"What about your brother?" Cal asked a bit distractedly as she stared out of the glass doors of the gym.

He shrugged. "My brother isn't big on watching any kind of TV, even if it's the news."

"Are you sure?" Cal gestured outside, where Roger could see Tanzo talking to Chris.

"No way," Roger frowned. "I told him I would call him when I needed to be picked up." He saw Cal and Geo giving him a look. "I know how to drive, but he needed the car for something tonight, and 'cause he's older he gets priority."

Geo nodded. "I see." He gestured towards the doors. "I guess we have to go outside."

"But, what if people saw?" Cal said, stopping the two. "I mean, we literally just morphed and unmorphed in public."

Geo looked back behind them and saw back doors. "There are some other people in here so we can go out the back door, hopefully without anyone noticing."

The three sneaked to the back doors and around to the front.

"Cal!"

Cal turned suddenly in time to have her mother barrel into her for a hug. "Thank god you're alright!"

Geo's mother was close behind her, and pulled Geo in close. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Geo nodded. "When did you get here?"

"Rebecca and I were going to grab some late dinner after I got off of work but we heard about the attack and came to see if you guys were okay," Ashley responded.

Roger watched them with pursed lips. It disappointed him that his parents weren't there for him like Geo and Cal's mothers were. He looked over and saw his brother still talking to Tanzo and had a small smile. Even though he and his brother weren't close, he was still glad he had him around.

He gestured towards them. "I'm gonna go over there," He told Geo and Cal, and walked over to the two. "I didn't know you knew each other."

Chris and Tanzo turned around, and Chris looked relieved. "You alright?"

Roger nodded. "So.. how do you two know each other?" He asked, a bit confused.

"Tanzo is Dr. Tachibana's son," Chris explained. "Remember?"

Roger scoffed. "How could I forget?"

Chris gave him a look, and Roger looked away. Chris smiled awkwardly at Tanzo, "We're gonna get going."

"Cal will call you tomorrow with details," Roger mumbled to Tanzo as his brother pulled him away.

"That was rude," Chris commented as they walked across the street to the car.

Roger rolled his eyes. "You're the one who lied to me."

"It's not that important, Roger," Chris sighed. "I'm..."

Roger rounded on his brother outside of their car. "I'd like to beg to differ," He growled. "This thing could kill you, you know? It's your heart! But it's obviously not important enough to tell me, so whatever." Roger walked around the car before turning towards him once more. "By the way, if it wasn't important, then why would you have gone to the hospital a few weeks ago?"

Roger got in the car and slammed the door, while Chris also got in the car. He sighed and stopped before he turned the key. "I'm sorry."

The black ranger frowned and slowly looked over at him. Chris looked down guiltily and Roger sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's not important why," He responded.

"You said mom has it too," Roger continued, as if his brother said nothing. "Did she tell you not to say anything?"

Chris turned the key in the car. He began to drive away and didn't reply to Roger's question.

 **~Cue Opening~**

Meanwhile, Vi waited anxiously outside of the infirmary, waiting for any news on Maya. Vi had already gotten checked over for injuries, and luckily only had a minor fracture in her wrist. Maya, on the other hand, was bleeding and unconscious, which wasn't good.

"Vi," Ginger came around the corner from the kitchen. Vi ran into her arms and let Ginger hug her tightly. "Are you alright?"

Vi pulled away from her and nodded. "I'm okay, just worried about Maya."

"You know she's sorry, right?" Ginger said after a moment of silence.

Vi sighed. "I know, but it's just hard. I mean, first we have some scheduling problems, and we hardly have time to spend together. Then there's this,"

Ginger frowned. "What?"

"I mean, I love her, but she has an attitude. It maybe wouldn't be a problem if we weren't doing what we do, but when you work with hostile creatures and people you can't act like that! Don't get me wrong, she doesn't act like that with me, but I'm worried she's gonna get someone else or herself hurt by mouthing off to someone she shouldn't!" Vi explained.

"Do you really love her?" Ginger asked.

Vi nodded. "Of course, but this isn't a good time for us. I wish it was different, but it isn't. Do you get it?"

Ginger sighed. "Yes, but if you love her then why should it matter? You should make it work,"

"I just need a break to think this over, Ginger." Vi told her.

Ginger opened her mouth to respond when Alicia came out of the infirmary. She turned to Vi, "Maya will be fine. She has a few stitches, and a pretty bad concussion, but within two or so weeks she should be back to normal."

"She needs to go home, get some rest," Vi said, a bit sadly. "Can you or Ben take her? I need some time alone,"

Alicia looked at her sympathetically and nodded. "Yeah, I'll make sure she get's there safely."

"Thanks," Vi nodded. "I think I should get home,"

"I can take you," Ben offered from behind her.

Alicia crossed her arms at him. "We only have one car,"

"Oh well," Ben shrugged. "Vi and I will sit up front and you and Maya can go in the back,"

Alicia frowned. "Excuse me?"

Vi put her hands up. "If it's the fastest way, then let's just go,"

Ben smirked at Alicia as Vi passed by him towards the outdoors. Maya walked very slowly out of the infirmary, shielding her eyes from the light as good as possible.

"Are we going?" Maya asked, wincing from all of the light.

Ben walked over and shielded her from the light, and made sure she was steady. "Yeah, we are."

He walked Maya out while Alicia groaned. "I'm so mad at him," She growled.

"Why?" Ginger asked, frowning.

"I want kids eventually, but Ben doesn't," Alicia sighed.

Ginger chuckled. "Alicia, he's 21 years old. It's probably not that he doesn't want to have kids as much as the idea of having kids scares him. You just need to give him some time."

Alicia looked at the ground. She knew Ginger was right. "Yeah, you're probably right,"

"Probably? Sweetie, I know." She smiled. "I may only have one kid, but I know this stuff."

Alicia nodded. "Okay," She looked up at Ginger. "I'm gonna talk to him about it,"

"Good idea." Ginger watched her leave and smiled to herself. She took out a locket from under her shirt and opened it, a picture of her son Keith as a baby, and his senior portrait. "I miss you," She touched the picture. "I can't wait until you come home."

~PRAG~

The next day, Cal walked over to the diner, where she asked Tanzo to meet her. She hoped that he hadn't been too scared off by the previous night to show up, and thankfully, he wasn't. A few moments after she showed up, Tanzo quickly joined her.

"So, what's going on?" Tanzo asked, a smile on his face. Cal thought it was strange that, no matter what, Tanzo seemed to have a smile on his face. Despite the strangeness of it, she also found in comforting. The other rangers, including herself, weren't extremely optimist, so this kind of optimism was nice to be around.

"I've asked Roger and Geo to meet us at our base, which is where I'll be taking you," She led him outside, where she parked her mother's car. She gestured for him to get in the passengers seat while she got in the drivers seat. She started driving. "I'm surprised you even showed up," She said as they drove towards Ranger Ops.

He chuckled. "Why is that?"

"Well, most people would've freaked out about finding out they're one of the only people left on Earth to save it from a race of evil aliens," Cal responded with a smirk.

Tanzo smiled. "Well, I guess I'm not most people,"

Cal pulled up outside of the building. "I guess not," She said as she parked and exited her car to see Geo just arriving as well. "Hey," She greeted.

"Hey," Geo nodded at her, and then looked to Tanzo, "Have you filled him in yet, or...?"

Cal shook her head. "I wanted to wait for all of us to be here,"

"And we are," Roger said as he walked up to them. He patted Tanzo on the back. "Welcome to Ranger Ops,"

Tanzo looked up at the building in awe and smiled. "This is amazing!" He cried. "This is your base?!"

"Our base, now," Cal smiled as the three led their newest member into the building.

"This is even better in here!" Tanzo said, staring up at the high ceilings and beautiful, pure white decor.

"Thank you," Alicia smiled as she came in and sat in a chair facing the couch. "I designed it myself." Tanzo looked over at her, startled out of his stupor. "I'm Alicia, your mentor of sorts," She held a hand out to shake his.

Tanzo shook her hand. "Tanzo," He replied.

"So, I hear you have a pendant," Alicia said, gesturing for him to sit down on the couch in front of her, which he quickly did. "Which one is it?"

"Umm..." Tanzo looked down at his. "There's an elephant on it,"

Alicia nodded and pulled out a morpher, handing it to him. "You are the yellow ranger, with the obvious power of the elephant."

"So, I'm really a power ranger?" Tanzo laughed in shock. "That's great!"

"Now," Alicia put her hands out to get his attention. "There's a major rule you need to know,"

Tanzo nodded. "Okay, what?"

"You cannot, under almost any circumstances, tell anyone you're a ranger," Alicia warned him. "This is to ensure the safety of not only yourself, but others."

"Okay, sure," He smiled. "This is gonna be so fun!"

Geo frowned in distaste, "Being a power ranger isn't about fun," He said. "We have to be serious and save lives."

Tanzo laughed. "You're just a stick in the mud. You can have fun with almost anything," He shrugged. "You just have to make it happen."

The red ranger rolled his eyes, "I don't think you..."

"Let's not fight," Cal put herself between the two. "Tanzo literally just joined the team. Let's just be glad that there's another ranger to help us,"

"Speaking of which," Roger interjected. "Maya told me that..."

Roger was cut off by the alarm. Ginger ran out of the monitoring room, "There's an attack on the city square! Giant monster!"

"Giant?" Geo asked, frowning. "I thought they only got big when we destroyed them,"

Ginger shrugged. "I guess not,"

The rangers stood up, Geo stopped Tanzo for a moment. "We're gonna go there and call for our zords. Just follow our lead."

"For sure," Tanzo nodded.

~PRAG~

Vi got to Ranger Ops as soon as she heard about the attack on the city. She ran into the monitoring room, only to find Maya sitting there with a pair of sunglasses on, watching the monster until the rangers got there.

She was about to walk out when Maya's voice stopped her. "I know you're there, Vi," She said.

"Why are you here?" Vi asked, after she took a deep breath. "You should be resting,"

Maya shrugged. "That's what everybody says," She muttered. "Anyway, it doesn't matter because I'm here."

"Okay," Vi nodded. "Well, how do you feel?"

"Like I have a bad concussion and stitches in my head," Maya retorted.

Vi felt bad. She needed time to think things over, but she really didn't want to hurt Maya. "Maya, you know I just need time to figure this all out, right? Just time to be alone for a while,"

"You're breaking up with me," Maya concluded.

"No!" Vi exclaimed. "I don't want that,"

Maya scoffed. "Doesn't seem like it,"

Vi looked sadly at her. "I'm sorry."

"No, I am," Maya growled, turning slowly to face her. "I don't want to be stuck to you if there's nothing to be stuck to. I think that we should just end it before anyone gets hurt,"

Vi was shocked. "What? Maya, I..."

"Vi, you probably would have ended it anyways," Maya said. "I think we should see other people, and maybe, if it doesn't work out, we could get coffee or something," She rolled her eyes.

Vi felt like she was going to cry. She ran out of the room and into the living room, where Alicia and Ben were talking. "Vi?" Alicia asked, standing up. "What's wrong?"

The girl threw herself into Alicia's arms. "Maya broke up with me!"

Alicia put her arms around her in shock. She never thought this could happen. "Oh my god," She breathed out. "I'm so sorry, Vi. I really am."

~PRAG~

Meanwhile, Tanzo watch the rangers form their megazord before doing anything. Then, it was time for action. He ripped his pendant off and stuck it in his morpher, feeling a warmth surround him. His suit began to form from yellow dust surround his body.

"Animal Guardians, Arise!" He called out. "Power of the Elephant!"

His suit was similar to Geo and Roger's, though his helmet had the head of an elephant, and his belt held a blaster and sword. He looked down at himself.

"Amazing!" He exclaimed. He then looked up and put his hand towards the sky. "Elephant Zord, Awaken!"

The yellow Elephant zord ran in, Tanzo leaping up to be in it's cockpit. He looked out and saw the whole city below him. "This is incredible!"

 _"Yeah, it is,"_ Geo's voice came through his zord. _"But we don't have time to enjoy the view. Join us!"_

"How?" Tanzo asked, looking amongst the buttons.

 _"Tanzo can't join you guys,"_ Maya's voice now came in. _"His zord is supposed to join with the Flamingo Zord to create another megazord. It's not compatible with yours,"_

"Damn it," Geo muttered under his breath, looking out at Tanzo's zord.

Roger looked over at him. "What are we gonna do?"

Geo shrugged. "We just have to fight as good as we can until we get the Flamingo Zord, I guess,"

 _"I got this, guys,"_ Tanzo's voice came through. _"Don't worry."_

"What is he doing?" Cal asked, as Tanzo moved his zord forward.

Crow tried to take off flying but the Elephant zord lifted onto it's hind legs and grabbed it, pulling it back down with a force that created a small earthquake around them.

"Tanzo, be careful!" Geo warned. "We can't destroy the city!"

Tanzo laughed from the other side. _"Don't worry about it, I got him for you,"_ He told them. _"Get your sword; I'll hold him down."_

"He's got a point," Roger pressed in the command for the sword, as did Cal.

Geo sighed and did the same, allowing the sword to be launched into their megazord's hand. Crow took off again, pulling the Elephant zord with it. Tanzo laughed in fear and the ranger watched Crow try to leave Earth.

"We have to stop him, Geo!" Cal cried.

Geo slammed his hand down on the command for the megazord to fly with his Eagle zord's wings, and the megazord took off after the alien. Once they got close behind it, they quickly stuck the sword through Crow, who, despite his best efforts to escape still, eventually stopped and exploded, sending the zords hurtling back towards the Earth's surface.

The three core rangers stopped their megazord with the Eagle zord's wings, but Tanzo's zord kept falling back.

"He'll die if we don't stop it!" Roger exclaimed.

Geo nodded and the megazord flew quickly towards the Elephant zord, grabbing it and stopping it just before it hit the ground. The rangers sighed in relief.

"Tanzo," Geo called. "You okay?"

 _"Are you kidding?!"_ Tanzo exclaimed. _"That. Was. Amazing!"  
_

The three other rangers looked amongst each other in shock. "Did he just say...?" Roger asked.

Cal nodded. "He did."

Geo sighed. "Let's just get back."

~PRAG~

When the rangers got back, Alicia and Vi were waiting for them in the living room, Vi's eyes a bit tear stained. "What happened?" Cal asked, sitting on the seat closest to Vi while the guys sat on the couch.

"It's not important right now," Vi wiped another tear away. "You guys got a new ranger," She held her hand out. "I know we sort of already met, but I'm Vi. Alicia's intern."

Tanzo shook her hand enthusiastically. "Tanzo,"

"Speaking of new rangers," Roger said, before Alicia or Vi could say anything. "I was gonna say this earlier but, Maya told me that there are more ranger than just us, including Tanzo. There are eight in all, I think she said."

Alicia sighed. "Yes, but, like Tanzo, one of the remaining four doesn't know, and the other three are a mystery. We have no leads, and nothing enough to track them off of as the pendants usually only work in the presence of a morpher."

"So, if one of us got close to another ranger, their pendant could light up?" Geo asked.

"Technically," Alicia nodded slowly. "But, most of the time it has to be their own morpher, or when they're in danger."

Cal frowned. "You have no idea where any of these people are?"

"Sort of," Alicia sighed once more. "It's complicated. Either way, you four should be on the lookout for any of these new rangers. We're gonna need them,"

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** While on the lookout for any new rangers, Geo finds the Flamingo Guardian in his new English partner, though she seems to want nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, in an effort to make Maya jealous, Vi goes out of her way to get a date. However, when Maya hears of Vi's search, she tries to get one of her own.

 **The next chapter will definitely not take a month to write, I promise! Also, as you can see above, the next chapter features the next ranger, which means a new cover photo, and the next opening! They will be released in the next chapter, as will the update of the character bios with the new character (Tanzo's was just added).**

 **Also, this may not make a difference until later, but Ginger's son, Keith (the Ancient Animals red ranger) has a new actor as I made a very short (and poor) opening for that story, though I couldn't find any videos for this original actor. The new actor is Robert Pattinson, and I will update that in the old story as well.**

 **Anyways, thank you guys so much for reading, and as always, review and let me know what you thought!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	11. Ep 9: Pink Ranger

**As promised, there is a new cover photo and video! I'll put the link to the video in my bio and feel free to look at the photo up above if you're not on mobile! Also, Kay's bio will be on the first chapter if you wanna see it!**

 **Oh, and I suppose a few of you thought that the new ranger would be the ranger Vi and Maya met in the woods, but she'll be more important later rather than now.**

 **Also, Kay's brother speaks only in sign language so it will be symbolized by ' ' instead of " ".**

 **Kay is portrayed by Dove Cameron**

 **And cameo by...**

 **Young Bella is portrayed by Lucy Hutchinson**

 **Older Bella is portrayed by Naya Rivera**

 **Mr. Brown is portrayed by Johnny Depp**

* * *

Geo stood against the wall in his English class as he waited to get his new seat. He had the same teacher as Cal and Tanzo, as Welch County High was a pretty small school since the town wasn't too big, so he knew this meant he would most likely be sitting with someone new. Someone he may not like.

He sighed as the person in front of him got a seat and he stepped up to the teacher as he figured out a seat for him. Geo was actually quite surprised he was even switching the seats, as he didn't seem to care much about his students.

The teacher gestured to a seat near the back. Geo looked back and began to walk towards his desk, trying to observe his new partner. He sat down next to her and offered his hand.

"Hey," He said, trying to be nice.

His new partner was hunched over a chemistry book, her long, curly blonde hair obscuring his view of her face. She also had a cup of Starbucks coffee on her desk. She looked up at him strangely. "What?" She asked, frowning as she looked him over.

Geo also looked her over. She had pale skin and bright blue eyes, and was about 5'2. She seemed like a very classy person, wearing a white polka dotted tank top, a black blazer, a pair of dark washed jeans, and a pair of black booties. She also had light makeup on, almost professional-looking.

"Well, since we're partners now, and probably for a while if I know him," He gestured towards the teacher in annoyance. "I figured I should introduce myself. I'm Gregory Costello, but you can call me Geo."

She barely took his hand in a light shake. "I'm Kennedy Lucas, though I do go by Kay," She let go of his hand immediately. "But what was the point of that again? We're just two people in high school talking now, and we'll probably never see each other again afterwards."

Geo was a bit taken aback. "I just thought I should be nice."

Kay pursed her lips. "I guess." She looked him over again. "Why do you have a bandana on your wrist? Are you in a gang or something?"

"No," Geo frowned. "I just like it." He decided to change the subject and gestured to her coffee. "I'm surprised that lasts until 2nd period."

She made a face at the drink. "If it was Dunkin' it wouldn't have. I'm not really a big fan of Starbucks."

"Why don't you just throw it away then?" Geo asked.

Kay turned to him as if he slapped her. "Excuse me? Okay, obviously you know nothing about me, so here's a fact. I don't think you should ever interact with me before my coffee. I mean, I don't really want you to interact with me in the first place, but still."

Geo had begun to drown her out when he looked at her neck and saw a back rope similar to the one his pendant was on. He followed the rope down and saw that just above the hem of her shirt lied a glowing, pink pendant with a flamingo on it.

"Why is your necklace glowing?" Kay asked, startling him out of his stupor. "That's weird."

"What?" Geo looked down, only to notice his glowing as well. He covered his and gestured to hers. "Where did you get that?"

Kay looked down and was shocked to see her's glowing as well. "Does it matter where I got it?" Kay growled. "Why is it doing this?"

Geo bit his lip. "Long story?"

 **~Cue Opening 2 (link in bio)~**

Vi glared as she saw Maya talking to Roger at the lockers at break. It upset her how Maya could just act like she didn't care when she knew how much this was killing Vi. Actually, Vi was even surprised she showed up at school, considering her concussion, and was looking forward to at least a few more days away from her to figure out what to do about the situation, however, it didn't seem like that was going to happen.

"Hey, Vi," Cal's voice startled her out of her thoughts and Vi pulled her behind the wall she was watching Maya at. "Whoa, what's going on?"

Vi held Cal by the shoulders. "You're my friend, right?"

Cal nodded with a chuckle. "Of course, why would you even ask that? I mean, I've opened up to you more than anyone else. You're definitely my friend."

"Good, because I really need a favor." Vi smiled sweetly and Cal frowned suspiciously.

"What kind of favor?"

"Well, this may seem like an odd request, but I need to make Maya jealous." Vi told her with an awkward chuckle. "If you get what I mean?"

Cal looked at her a bit nervously, playing with the hem of her skirt. "Vi, I need to tell you something,"

"What?" Vi asked, frowning. "Is everything okay?"

"Well, you know about my social anxiety," Vi nodded and Cal continued. "Well, that involves being extremely nervous about how people will react to me and things I do."

Vi nodded again. "Okay, but what does this have to do with..."

"Vi," Cal grabbed her by the shoulders. "I am in the closet."

The intern stared at her for a moment before forming a small smile. "You're gay?"

"Bi," Cal corrected. "If I was a lesbian, even if I am in the closet, I would not have agreed to go to the dance with Tanzo. I wouldn't want to lead him on to think I'm straight just to tell him I'm not."

"Aww, do you like Tanzo?" Vi smiled.

Cal shook her head. "Not like that, but he is a nice guy. Not the point, though. I don't know if I can do this."

"What better way to come out than to fake-date me to make my ex jealous?" Vi asked, nudging her. "If it really makes you uncomfortable, though, I really don't want you to do it."

Cal took in a deep breath. "I'm just nervous because I've only dated one guy before, and I don't want other guys to think I'm not available, even if I don't really talk to them."

"We could get Tanzo to let people know if they ask," Vi suggested. "You know how friendly he is."

"Will it be okay?" Cal asked, looking at her nervously as she could already feel her anxiety rising.

Vi nodded. "I'll be here the whole time, and whenever you want to back out, you can."

Cal sighed. "I'm doing this because you're basically my best friend, and I trust you." Vi smiled brightly, but Cal put a hand up. "You have to understand, certain anxiety attacks can literally feel like I'm dying, so I'm trusting you big time here."

"Of course." She looked at the busy hallway. "Okay, so if we're fake dating, you know we're gonna need to..."

"I know," Cal nodded and grabbed Vi's good hand, considering the other was broken. "I guess there's no better time to do this,"

Meanwhile, Maya was complaining about the situation with Vi to Roger when she saw Roger look past her in a bit of shock. "What?" She asked, turning around to find herself in shock as well.

Vi and Cal were holding hands, talking and looking at each other admiringly, just like couples do.

"Cal's lesbian?" Roger questioned, looking a bit confused. "I never took her to swing that way."

"There's no way they're dating," Maya said, looking at them a bit angrily, and worriedly. She was really hoping that the two weren't. She turned back to Roger. "Do me a favor?"

Roger looked away from the two and towards Maya. "What?"

When Vi and Cal walked over to Maya and Roger, since Vi's locker was next to Maya's, Vi smiled at Maya. "Hey guys."

"You two are dating?" Roger asked, still shocked. "Cal, I didn't know you..."

"I'm bi," She almost blurted out. "Tha.. that's probably why you didn't know."

Vi took her hand out of Cal's and wrapped it around her shoulders. "It's okay, they don't judge, right?"

The two shook their heads, but Maya crossed her arms. "So you guys are dating, huh?"

"Yeah, why?" Vi frowned. "I thought you wanted to break up,"

"I did." Maya nodded. "And I have another person too," She pulled Roger towards her. "Roger."

Roger looked towards her in even more shock than before. He was starting to figure out what this favor was. "Oh.. yeah," He chuckled awkwardly, putting his arm carefully around her. "Me."

"Really?" Vi asked, not believing it for a second. "Well, maybe we should go on a double date."

"What?" Cal and Roger asked, looking to their faux significant others.

Maya nodded. "I agree. Carlyle's at five?"

Vi smiled irritatedly. "Of course. See you there." She began to pull Cal away and once they were far enough away, Vi spoke up again. "We're gonna need to get ready for this."

Maya meanwhile moved away from Roger's arm. "What's going on?" Roger asked, frowning. "I don't like being used, Maya."

"Look, it's just one fake date to make Vi jealous, and to make her admit she hasn't moved on." Maya rolled her eyes. "It'll be fine. We just need to get ready."

Roger sighed. "Alright, I guess you can come over after school to prepare."

Maya smirked. "Ooh, so I get to meet your family? Really going all out, huh?" She joked.

He rolled his eyes. "It's more like I haven't even been on a fake date in a while, and I am _not_ asking my brother for advice on something like this. He'd probably get mad, honestly."

"Yeah, I get it. I'll meet you in front of the school," She patted his arm. "Don't be late."

~PRAG~

After school, Kay walked quickly towards her car parked in the student lot. She took her keys out and got into her golden Dodge Equinox, putting them into the key hole while putting her books and light pink purse down on the passenger seat. She started to drive.

 _"You're supposed to be a power ranger,"_

The thought wouldn't stop rushing through her head. There was no way she could be a power ranger. She was always avoidant of talking to people, and now she figured out why. Most people were insane.

This Geo guy had no idea what he was talking about. The power rangers saved the world. Correction, the power rangers _save_ the world. All the time. She just wanted to get through life and avoid all obstacles she could, most of which included other people.

She stopped at a red light and touched the pendant around her neck. She remembered her father giving it to her right before he left on his last business trip. Kay knew he wouldn't be back for a while.

She continued to drive when the light turned green and sighed.

Could she really be a power ranger?

Even if she could, Kay knew that entitled being a part of a team, which made her shudder. After her brother, Hunter, had been born, she was practically pushed away from the close relationship she had with her mom. While she understood why, as her brother was deaf and needed more attention, she also felt as if at this point, her mother could come back and be close with her again.

Hunter was 12 years old, and thrived despite being deaf. He didn't need the constant babying that he got from her.

It angered Kay that her mom couldn't let go for one second to spend time with her. Not only that, but with her father always traveling for work, Kay didn't have really anyone to rely on. She didn't really have many friends either.

Her chemistry books and coffee were really the only things Kay could rely on to stick around.

Kay pulled up outside of her house to see her mother and Hunter sitting in the front yard signing at each other and laughing about it. She cringed and shook her head before grabbing her books and purse and getting out of her car.

"Hello, Kennedy," Her mother, Diane, said.

Her brother turned around, 'Hey, Kay,' he signed.

Kay forced a smiled and signed back, 'Hey guys.'

She walked into the house before either of them could say anything else and walked upstairs. She went into her room and closed the door, locking it behind her. Her room was very neat and classy, with a large, queen-sized bed with a beautiful, satin light pink bedspread and white canopy. She also had a desk under a large, very clean window with most of her school work on it. She also had a walk-in closet located within her own, private bathroom. Finally, she had another large window at the far side of her room with a cushion on the large sill for her to sit on.

She put her purse down and her books as well before flopping down gracefully on her bed.

 _"You're supposed to be a power ranger,"_

~PRAG~

Roger and Maya got to his house and Roger stopped her before they walked in. "Just go up to my room - it's upstairs and the door all the way at the end of the left side of the hall. I need to tell my brother some excuse for this."

Maya nodded. "Alright."

Roger opened the front door and gestured to the stairs, allowing her to walk up there. He, meanwhile, walked into the kitchen to see his brother asleep at the table in front of his laptop. Roger sighed and closed the laptop loud enough to wake him.

Chris rubbed a hand over his face and looked up at Roger. "What was that for?"

Roger gestured to a paper on table that was most likely for Chris' medical school. "What are you doing? You're not supposed to..."

"What do you think mom and dad are gonna do if I drop out of school?" He cut Roger off.

The black ranger looked at him as if he was insane. "What do you think mom and dad will do if they find out you're dead?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "I highly doubt that would happen."

"Oh yeah, a person with a heart problem would never have a heart attack, right?" Roger hissed. "Anyways, I came here to tell you something else. I have friend over and we're gonna go out around five, alright?"

Chris raised an eyebrow with a slight smirk. "A girl?"

Roger chuckled. "Yeah, but it's not like that."

"Okay," Chris shrugged. "Sure."

"It's really not." Roger repeated as he walked away from the kitchen and upstairs to his room, where he found Maya looking through his closet. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find you something to wear," Maya said.

Roger frowned. "You don't like my outfit?"

"It's not date appropriate." She said. "We'll go stop by my house after this so I can grab something to wear too."

He sighed and sat down at his desk as she continued to look. "So," Maya started before he could relax in the silence. "How's your brother?"

"He's okay, I guess," Roger shrugged. "Mostly irritating, as usual."

"I meant health wise." Maya gave him a look.

Roger nodded with an irritated look. "I know."

Maya pursed her lips. "I guessing that means you have no idea."

"If he doesn't want to tell me, then I don't care."

Maya pulled a shirt out of his closet and observed it. "Do you think you can just lie to my face and expect me to believe you?"

Roger sighed. "What do you want me to say?"

"The truth," Maya told him. "Come on, you can't honestly tell me you don't care. I saw how upset you were when he was in the hospital."

"Well, yeah, I care," Roger nodded. "He's my brother. I obviously don't want anything to happen to him. Either way, though, what can I do about it? He doesn't want to talk about it, and anyway, we've never been really close."

Maya gave him a look. "So if he died, you'd just say, 'well, we weren't that close so oh well?'"

Roger looked as if she had just punched him, and he also looked quite angry. "No, why would you say something like that?"

"Well, you just said you wouldn't talk about it with him because you two have never been close. That basically implies that either you don't care enough to talk to him about it, or that you're too scared to actually talk about it with him."

"No, he won't..."

"Who cares?" Maya cut him off. "If he won't do it, it's probably because he hasn't accepted it himself, or because he doesn't think you care. It could be both too."

Roger looked at the floor. "How can you be so sure?"

"I'm not," Maya responded. "That's why I said probably."

Roger sighed as thought about it. It did seem to make sense.

Maya came up to him and handed him the clothes. "Here, change. We have to leave soon."

~PRAG~

Cal and Vi meanwhile went to Cal's house after stopping by Vi's aunt's house to grab something for her to wear. Cal's mother was sitting at the island in the kitchen when they walked in, startling Cal.

"Oh, Callie, I didn't know you were having friends over," Rebecca said, standing up to greet Vi. "It's nice to see you again Vi. What are you two doing?"

Cal took a deep breath. "Going on date?" She mumbled nervously.

Rebecca gave her a strange look. "You two are going on a date?" She asked, looking to Vi. "I thought Vi was dating somebody."

Cal stared at her in shock. "What?"

"I thought Vi was already in a relationship," Rebecca repeated nonchalantly.

Vi nodded as Cal's jaw dropped. "I am.. sort of. I'm trying to get her back,"

"By making her jealous?" Rebecca raised her eyebrows. "I wouldn't advise that, but if you think it'll work."

"Wait a minute," Cal put her hands up to stop them from talking. "You know I'm bi?"

Rebecca nodded slowly. "Yes, why?"

"How did you know that?!" Cal exclaimed in shock.

"Cal, I've seen you stare at girls in magazines just as much you do guys." Rebecca chuckled. "It's not that big of a deal. You know I support whatever you do - unless you do something bad, of course."

Cal stared at her mother, and Vi chuckled awkwardly. "Okay, well we're gonna get ready to make Maya jealous, right Cal?" Cal nodded. "Come on,"

~PRAG~

Kay, after sitting in her room long enough, decided that she needed air. Her thoughts were so all over the place that she was beginning to feel claustrophobic. She got up from her bed and left her room, closing the door behind her. She began to walk towards the stairs when a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

Hunter was standing behind her, looking a bit confused. Hunter was quite tall for his age, standing at about 5'5 with light brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a sweater, jeans, and regular sneakers.

'What's wrong?' He signed at her.

She frowned. 'What do you mean? I'm fine.'

'No, you're not. Stop lying, Kay,' He started to look a bit angry.

"Look, I just have a lot on my mind," She said, and signed. "I kinda want to be alone."

"Kay," Her mother said in a scolding tone as she came out of her bedroom. "Don't talk to your brother like that."

Kay frowned at her. "Well, I do. Am I not allowed to be alone because Hunter's deaf?"

"Kay!" Her mother yelled. "That's crossing the line."

Kay rolled her eyes. "I'm going for a walk." She walked quickly down the stairs and out of the house. She could just imagine her mother trying to comfort her brother even though she knew he had no idea what they had said.

She towards the park near her house, and discovered, to her shock, that no one else was there. Not that she was complaining or anything, but this was definitely strange.

"Hello?" She asked, a bit hesitantly. She was perfectly content with being alone and ignoring the fact that no one was there, but at the same time, if Geo was right, she was a power ranger. She had to help if something was wrong. "Is anybody here?"

"Help," A small voice said. Kay walked over to the play structure and saw a girl hiding under there. She was a bit dirtied up, though she didn't seem injured.

Kay kneeled down near her. "Are you okay? What happened?" She asked, stopping to get near her as the girl tried to cower from her.

"There was a monster," She said. "My dad and I were running but I couldn't run fast enough and hid under here."

Kay nodded. "A monster?" She looked around and didn't see any immediate risk. "Okay, I'll help you. What's your name? How old are you?"

"Isabella Brown," She responded. Isabella was about 4'9 with shoulder-length dark brown hair, brown eyes, and lightly tanned skin. She had yellow, floral dress on and white shoes. "I'm almost ten."

"Okay," Kay nodded. "I'm Kennedy Lucas, but you can call me Kay. Can I call you Bella?" She nodded. "Okay, Bella, I'm gonna scope out the area to make sure the monster is gone, and then I'll walk you out of the park, alright?"

Kay stood up and walked carefully around the playground and was surprised when she saw a large being jump out from behind a tree. She heard Bella scream in terror and stared at the monster in shock.

The monster, Goat, looked at the pendant around her neck and smiled evilly. "Give me the pendant, pink ranger!"

Kay looked down at her pendant, noticing it was glowing. "Never!"

Goat growled and snapped his fingers. "Chimera!"

Suddenly, a group of footsoldiers surrounded the playground. Kay ducked as one ran at her with a sword and watched as it rammed hard into a pole. She ran up the steps of the structure and kicked a few away from her.

Kay walked across the bridge and grabbed onto the railing to flip under it and kick one away before swinging herself back up to the top.

"Get away from me," Kay growled as one hopped up top with her. She punched it back, knocking it over the railing. She saw a few walking up the slide and decided to quickly slide down, putting her feet hard in front of her and knocking them off.

Kay ran under the slide and grabbed Bella by the arm, and pulled her along, making her duck and avoid getting hit by lasers. She saw a man running towards them.

"Daddy!" Bella yelled.

Kay swung her arm, launching Bella forward towards her father's arms. Mr. Brown smiled thankfully. "Thank you!"

"Bye, pink ranger!" Bella called over her dad's shoulder as they ran away.

Kay gave her a small smile before turning back towards the monsters with a confident smirk. "Who's ready?"

~PRAG~

Roger and Maya sat at their usual table at Carlyle's. Tanzo and Geo were also there, but since their usual table was a large one in the back corner, it was more than enough room for the four of them, Cal, and Vi.

"So, what's going on exactly?" Geo questioned, a bit confused.

Maya sighed exasperatedly. "Vi's trying to make me jealous by fake dating Cal."

"So you're making her jealous by fake dating Roger?" Geo raised an eyebrow, giving her a strange look. "I thought you were..."

"Just like Cal," Maya cut him off. "I'm bi,"

Tanzo put his hands up. "Wait, Cal's actually bi or is she just faking that too?"

"I think she actually is," Maya chuckled. "I mean, she seemed like she had just come out of the closet or something."

"Hey guys," Vi said.

She and Cal had arrived, both dressed in matching clothes, though Vi's was white and Cal's was blue, and were holding hands. The two sat down across from Maya and Roger respectively.

"This is the most awkward dinner ever." Tanzo commented after no one had talked for a moment.

"You can say that again," Roger muttered.

Maya elbowed him in the ribs. "Shut up," She hissed. After no one had spoken up again after a while, the six all looked amongst each other awkwardly before Maya broke the silence once more. "Okay, Vi, I know you two aren't dating."

Vi was taken aback by Maya's sudden outburst. "What?"

"Come on, you two are best friends, not girlfriends." Maya rolled her eyes. "Besides, I know you don't date your close friends."

Vi frowned. "So? I know you're not dating Roger."

"Well, obviously," Maya muttered.

Roger looked offended at her. "Excuse me?"

"No offense." Maya told him while still looking at Vi.

"You know what, Maya?" Vi asked. "This was a mistake."

Maya glared. "I'm glad you can say such things about our relationship."

Vi rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking about that! I'm talking about breaking up at all! I was under a lot of pressure and I was upset. I'm sorry I hurt you."

Maya looked down at the floor guiltily. "Really?"

"Yeah," Vi nodded. "Maya, I love you."

"I love you too," Maya said, grabbing her good hand from across the table. "I'm sorry too. This was my fault."

"Not completely." Vi shook her head with a small smile.

The other ranger smiled and looked amongst each other.

"I say this calls for a celebration," Tanzo announced. "Let's get some food!"

Suddenly, their morphers beeps. "Or not," Roger sighed.

"We'll be back before you guys know it," Geo said, reaching into his pocket to grab the morpher he gotten from Alicia for Kay. "Hold the seats for us, guys?"

Vi and Maya nodded and watched them leave.

~PRAG~

The rangers ran to the scene of the battle to see Kay flip off of the play structure and kick down the final Chimera. She turned to see the Geo and the other rangers.

"Who is that?" Tanzo asked. "I thought it was just you guys."

"It was," Geo nodded. "But not anymore." He walked towards Kay, with the others following behind, a bit confused. "Kay, will you take this morpher and be apart of our team?"

Kay looked among them. She thought about it for a moment. This meant she had to be at least somewhat sociable with others, which is something she usually isn't. She knew she probably should have _some_ friends, and these four didn't look too bad.

"Yeah, I will," She took the morpher from his hand and strapped it on her wrist like they did. It glowed pink for a moment before resting comfortably on her wrist.

"Ready guys?" Geo asked, looking among them.

"Ready."

"Animal Guardians, Arise!" They yelled together.

"Power of the Eagle!"

"Power of the Bear!"

"Power of the Gorilla!"

"Power of the Elephant!"

"Power of the Flamingo!" Kay exclaimed.

As she morphed, Kay felt a comfortable warmth surround her as her suit formed around her body like pink dust. Her suit was similar to Cal's, though her helmet was had the head and wings of a flamingo around her visor. She also had a sword and blaster on her belt.

Kay watched the other rangers go at Goat for a moment. This was it. She was actually a power ranger. Geo was right.

She pulled her sword out of her belt as she saw the others get kicked down by Goat. She ran towards it, avoiding it's kick, and stabbed at the alien. Goat bounced off of a tree and came back around her. She pulled her blaster out in her other hand and flipped back out of the way when it tried to kick her down again.

She blasted it down and landed next to the others gracefully.

 _"Rangers,"_ Alicia's voice came through their morphers. _"Since the five of you are finally together, I have something special Vi and I have been preparing for you guys. Call for your weapons and combine them. The information should be downloaded into your suits now."_

"Thanks Alicia," Geo nodded. "Are you guys ready for an upgrade?"

"Definitely," Roger said, and Cal nodded in agreement.

Kay and Tanzo did the same.

"Alright," Geo said as they got into a line in front of Goat. "Eagle Sword!" Geo's sword was red at the hilt and much bigger and sharper than their normal swords.

"Bear Mace!" Roger called. Roger had a black mace with various sharp spikes all over it.

"Gorilla Bow!" Cal exclaimed. Cal had a blue bow with laser arrows to make for efficiency.

"Elephant Dagger!" Tanzo yelled. Tanzo's dagger was a bit shorter than their normal swords, but much sharper, and had a yellow hilt.

"Flamingo Staff!" Kay cried. Kay had a large, pink staff with an activation button for a knife to come out of the top.

"Let's combine them!" Geo told them. The five combined their weapons and pointed the large blaster at Goat. "Ready?"

"Aim," Cal and Roger said.

"Fire!" Tanzo and Kay yelled.

The attack made the alien blow up in flames, and the rangers all smiled brightly at each other. "We did it," Tanzo cried. "Again!"

"As usual," Roger smirked, making Cal chuckle and shove him.

"Come on, let's go back and get our food!" Tanzo exclaimed.

Kay watched them a bit awkwardly, but Cal turned to her. "You should come with us," She offered as they demorphed. "You can get something to eat and we can tell you some stuff."

Kay looked among them as they all turned to her. "Alright," She said shyly after a moment of hesitation.

The five rangers took off in the direction of the diner, Tanzo talking up a storm and Kay walking a bit behind them.

~PRAG~

 ***Ten Years Later***

In the year 2023, a 17 year old Bella Brown stood strongly in front of a giant spider-like monster named Arachne. Bella was dressed in a tight, sleeveless peplum top, white skinny jeans, and brown booties. Her white purse was thrown to the side. She was now 5'5 with caramel skin and long brown hair.

"Stop right there!" She yelled, seeing Arachne walk towards the downed red ranger.

"Bella?" The pink ranger asked as she crawled towards the green ranger, who was also on the ground.

"What are you doing here?" The blue ranger yelled, his voice accented. "You'll get killed."

Bella shook her head. "I won't, trust me!" She pulled out a small power coin that glowed yellow in the sun. She held it up before shoving it into the locket around her neck.

"Guardians, Rise Up!" She called as yellow vines began to surround her body. "Yellow Guardian!"

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Geo's confidence is shook when Vi gets kidnapped under his watch. Also, Kay adjusts to being on a team.

 **I really hope you guys liked this chapter, because I loved writing it! I really wanted to introduce Kay, so here you guys go! Like I said, check out the cover photo and new video!**

 **Also, what did you guys think about the little preview to my upcoming story?**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	12. Ep 10: Taken

**Hey guys, sorry I was a bit late with the chapter, I was working on the finale of my other story, Power Rangers: Data Surge, and I wrote the first chapter, and published my new story, Power Rangers: Guardians of the Galaxy, which is the story from the preview in the last chapter, so check it out! Hope you like it!**

 **I also hope you like this chapter; enjoy!**

* * *

Geo could see Vi very clearly held back in the cave ahead, stopped by not only a forcefield, but by Chimera standing guard at the mouth of the cave. He would just make a beeline for the cave, destroy the Chimera, and rescue Vi, but a monster was standing in front of him, growling.

It was Lioness, who was ready to pounce and try to destroy him. Lioness had already taken out the other rangers one by one, leaving only Geo left to fight her. Geo almost refused, seeing as he failed not only to protect his teammates, but Vi as well.

Maya laid on the ground behind him, a bit injured, but nothing too bad. She watched for him to make his decision.

"Well, ranger?" Lioness growled, getting into position to fight him. "What are you gonna do?"

Geo pulled his pendant off of his neck and stuck into his morpher. "Animal Guardians, Arise!" He called, a bit uncertainly. "Power of the Eagle!"

Lioness crouched down into a pouncing position and smirked at him. "Bad choice for you, good choice for me," She launched herself at him.

 **~Cue Opening 2~**

 **Earlier**

Tanzo and Kay watched the rangers spar in Ben's boxing studio, Tanzo smiling excitedly while Kay made a face.

"That's dangerous," Kay pointed out as Geo kicked Roger back onto the ground, making Cal get up and run back at him. "Is this really what we do with our free time?"

Tanzo nudged her, making her frown and move a bit away from him. "Come on, it's not that bad. Don't you think the monsters are gonna be worse? You didn't have a problem fighting them, obviously."

Kay rolled her eyes. "That's different, because it's not free time. If a monster attacks, it's our obligation and job to go fight it, not something we do for fun."

"And you're saying this isn't fun?" Tanzo chuckled, gesturing to the ring where Geo knocked both Roger and Cal down again.

Maya, who was watching them from the side of the ring, walked over to Tanzo and Kay. "Geo's obviously been practicing outside of our practice, because neither Roger or Cal has been able to keep up with him all day,"

"We probably won't be able to, either," Kay muttered. Tanzo nudged her again, making her shove him away. "Stop touching me," Kay growled.

Tanzo put his hands up in surrender. "I was only doing that to point out to you that maybe if you have a positive attitude, good things can come from it."

Kay chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah, I've tried that before, and it doesn't work. Maybe you can live in a fantasy world, but I won't."

The yellow ranger frowned at her, as did Maya. "That's rude," Maya commented. "I don't know if you've realized, Kay, but this is a team effort, and if you can't deal with being apart of a team, then I don't know what you're doing here."

Kay crossed her arms, and actually thought about leaving, though she knew she couldn't due to the fact that she _was_ part of the team now. She was a ranger, and it was a bit too late to just throw in the towel and flat out refuse to work with the others, even if she did prefer to work and be alone most of the time.

"Okay," Was all she said in response as Alicia and Vi walked in, holding the tablets they used to track monster activity when they weren't at Ranger Ops.

"Hey guys!" Tanzo waved happily at them, making them walk over to the three.

Alicia waved the others over from the ring, and when they were all there, Alicia turned the tablet towards them. "We have some activity in three parts of the city," She told them. "I'll split you guys up into teams to check it out."

"There's five of us," Roger pointed out with a frown. "How are we gonna split into three teams?"

Alicia pushed Vi forwards with the rangers. "Vi is trained in martial arts, and will be going with Geo to city center. Roger and Tanzo will be going to Rivers Park, and Cal and Kay will be going to the Botanical Garden. Is that okay?"

The rangers nodded and left in their teams, Maya and Ben joined Alicia in watching them leave. "Are you sure it's safe for them to be splitting up already? They haven't even fought a monster on their own." Ben asked.

"Umm..." Maya scoffed. "More like, are you sure it's safe for Vi to be joining them? She's not a ranger."

"Yes, but she has enough training to go out and help," Alicia responded.

Maya gave her a look. "Then why isn't she a ranger too?"

Alicia turned to her. "You know that only those with the pendants can become rangers. Vi doesn't have a pendant, and I don't think she wants to be a ranger anyways. She likes her job as is."

"Well, I wish I was a ranger," Maya sighed. "I always imagined being the blue ranger, like Cal. I mean, it's cool training the rangers, and helping out, but sometimes I wish I was more involved. It's kinda like how everyone sees the actors on a TV show, rather than the producers. The actors are obviously more favorable."

Ben patted her on the shoulder. "Just because everyone else doesn't see us, doesn't mean the rangers don't. They appreciate everything we do for them, I know they do, and you should too."

Alicia watched them interact and sighed. She yearned to be a mother someday, and just watching any type of interact similar to this one was hard. She also knew, however, that Ben wasn't ready to be a father yet, and she didn't want to rush him into something he didn't want.

Ben looked over at Alicia and smiled sadly. He knew what she was thinking about, and while the idea of being a father scared him, he knew that Alicia was ready to be a mother. Not only that, but she deserved it.

~PRAG~

Roger and Tanzo walked carefully through the park, noticing immediately that there was almost no one there.

"Where is everyone?" Roger frowned, stopping to look around.

Tanzo shrugged, walking around, looking impatient. "I don't know, but this is boring. I think the real question is, where's the action at?"

Roger scoffed. "What did you expect? Every time we leave somewhere, someone's destroying the world?"

"Well, it's just boring waiting here. I hate waiting," Tanzo crossed his arms as he scuffed his feet in the grass. "I just wanna fight already!"

As Tanzo began to walk forward a little more, Roger stopped him. "I know you're not the serious type, but this is a serious situation. Who cares if it's boring? People could be dying right now, and we wouldn't know it."

Tanzo laughed. "If this is as serious as you think it is, then why is nobody here?"

"That might be exactly why it's serious," Roger rolled his eyes. While Roger did consider Tanzo a friend, his attitude about certain things could get irritating very quickly.

The yellow ranger, on the other hand, seemed more uncomfortable than Roger was irritated. He wasn't good at handling serious situations, and it was making him very uncomfortable. He didn't exactly know what to do, and Roger didn't seem like talking.

Suddenly, he was pulled out of his thoughts when he was pounced on by Lioness, the monster of the week. He cried out in shock and fear and Lioness growled in his face before grabbing him by the shoulder with her teeth. She dug her teeth in deep, making Tanzo exclaim in pain.

Roger saw this and ran forwards to help, but Lioness grabbed him with one of her paws and held him up by the neck, choking him until the pain Tanzo was in rendered him unconscious. She then stood up and slashed Roger across the chest a few times with her sharp claws before running off.

The black ranger was in an immense amount of pain, but managed to press the talk button on his morpher. _"Yes?"_ Maya's voice came through.

"Help," He choked out before falling unconscious himself.

~PRAG~

"These gardens are so pretty," Cal commented as she and Kay walked through the abandoned garden. "I wish I could go here all the time. It's very calming."

Kay looked towards a bench in front of a group of rose bushes and sighed.

 _~Flashback~_

 _A four year old Kay and her mother, Diane, walked along the path through the gardens, pointing out all of the nice flowers and plants as they passed them. Kay loved coming to the gardens - it was always a time when Kay felt close to both of her parents, even though her father was never around due to his job._

 _Diane gestured to a bench in front of a group of red rose bushes. "That's where your dad proposed to me, Kennedy."_

 _The two went to sit on the bench, and Diane moved a flower closer so Kay could smell it. "It smells good!" Kay exclaimed._

 _"Yes, it does," Diane said fondly. "I remember your father took me here and sat me down on this exact bench when he asked me to marry him. I was pregnant with you at the time, and you kicked for the first time right when he asked." She put a hand on her stomach. "Now you and I get to sit here with your brother," She rubbed her abdomen with a smile._

 _Kay put a hand on her mother's stomach as well and laughed happily. "I can't wait to have a baby brother!" Kay exclaimed. "Once he gets here, we can come back with him, right mommy?"_

 _Diana kissed her daughter's forehead. "Of course we can."  
_

 _~End of Flashback~_

Kay stared angrily at the bench. They never did come back. After her brother was born, her mother never spent time with Kay. She understood that Diane needed to do what she had to when he was younger, but even as he got older and more independent, she wouldn't break away from him long enough to even give Kay advice or help her with homework.

Kay learned how to give herself advice when she needed it, do her own homework every time it was assigned, make her own money, and basically how to live on her own. She often didn't even eat dinner with her family, not that she really felt it was much of one anyway.

"Are you okay?" Cal asked, noticing Kay lost in thought.

The pink ranger turned to her, startled at her question. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you seem upset. Is everything okay? You can talk to me if you need to," Cal told her, looking worried.

"I'm fine, let's just get this over with," Kay growled. She didn't understand why, all of a sudden, someone actually cared about what she was thinking. She didn't need anyone else's help with anything, and it almost offended her that Cal would even imply that she wanted, or needed, her help.

Cal grabbed Kay by the arm, making her spin around to face her, while ripping her arm out of Cal's grasp. Cal put her hands up in defense. "I'm sorry, I just know that you need to talk."

"What make you think that?" Kay crossed her arms.

"Because I know how you feel," Cal responded. "It's hard to tell other people what's going on because you don't want them to think badly about you if you do. I get it, but it helps to talk about, Kay. I know you may not want to, but when you're ready, I'll be here to listen."

Kay frowned. "You're not gonna try to make me talk about it?" Kay had often been attempted to be forced to talk about how she was feeling with her mother, as Diane didn't have enough time to wait for Kay to actually want to talk about it with her.

Cal shook her head, frowning as well. "No, why would I do that? I want you to be able to talk to me because you trust me, not because I forced you to talk about something you don't want to talk about."

"Really?" Kay had never had someone to really tell her problems to, and it meant a lot that Cal was willing to listen whenever she needed it.

"Of course," Cal smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder, and was a bit shocked when Kay didn't reject the contact.

Kay opened her mouth to speak with a roar interrupted them. "What was that?" Kay asked as Cal pulled her back from the direction the sound came from.

"I think the monster's here." Cal whispered.

The two went to grab their pendants when Cal was tackled by Lioness.

"Cal!" Kay cried as Cal was grabbed by the hair and had her head slammed hard into the ground, causing her to immediately fall unconscious.

Kay lunged forward, knocking Lioness off of Cal, but ended up getting grabbed and lifted up instead. "You think you're swift, ranger? I'll destroy you just like your friends!" Lioness growled.

Lioness threw Kay at the bench and the rose bushes, making her hit her chest hard on the bench, winding her, and her legs landed in the bushes, a multitude of thorns stabbing at her with the sharp ends.

She hissed in pain, gasping to regain her breath as she watched Lioness suddenly run off.

When she did regain her breath, she attempted to get up, but found herself unable to as she cried out and leaned hard against the bench as her vision blurred in and out. She pressed the button on her morpher.

"Help us," She gasped out before anyone on the other end could say anything. After she said so, however, she heard someone talking on the other end, but found it impossible to understand what they were saying as her vision blacked out around the edges.

After a few blinks to try and regain focus, she succumbed to unconsciousness.

~PRAG~

Vi and Geo were in the city square, surprised that there was nobody there on a Sunday, especially with all of the shops in sight. Then again, all of the shops seemed to be closed as well.

"What's going on here?" Vi asked, turning to Geo, who looked equally confused. "None of these stores should be closed. Not at this hour, and not on the busiest shopping day of the week besides Saturday."

Geo nodded. "Something's not right."

 _"No kidding,"_ Maya's voice came through Geo's morpher, and she sounded very upset.

Vi frowned, grabbing Geo's arm and putting the morpher near her mouth to speak. "What's going on, Maya?"

 _"The others are injured, pretty badly."_ Maya told them. _"Ben and I went to figure out why Roger sent us a distress call, and we found him and Tanzo beat up and bleeding bad, and Kay just sent us one now. Alicia and Ben are going to find them, but I assume they'll be just as bad."_

"No way," Geo took his arm out of Vi's grasp. "How badly are they hurt?"

There was a pause. _"Let's just say, they won't be fighting for a while."_

Geo cursed under his breath. This wasn't good. "Do you know what happened? What kind of monster there was? Anything at all?"

 _"Not yet, but I'll be checking any kind of surveillance I can to figure it out. In the meantime, stay on your toes and stay safe. We can't have all of you injured."_ Maya told him before hanging up.

Vi and Geo exchanged worried looks. "This isn't good," Vi commented.

Geo nodded, a bit lost in thought. As the leader, it was his job to keep the team safe, however, all of his team members were injured. He had often told himself that failure wasn't an option, and it really wasn't. He had failed to keep his team safe. He then looked to Vi, who was still looking around to make sure no one was around. While Vi wasn't a member of the actual ranger team, she was a very vital piece of the process.

Without her, the rangers wouldn't be as far as they were now, and probably wouldn't have come together at all. Despite the fact that this situation was already a mess and a failure, he had to protect Vi.

It was his job, and while he really didn't feel like doing anything else than going back to Ranger Ops to read and think about what he's done, he knew had had to get his job done before anything else happened.

Then, all of a sudden, he was hit from the side with a large paw. He looked up to see Lioness standing over him with her claws out, ready to strike him now that he was down below her.

Vi quickly sprung to action, tackling the monster off of Geo. He watched, shocked, as Vi put up a pretty good fight against the alien, but was quickly struck down.

"Vi!" He yelled, trying to get up to get her when Lioness ran forward and grabbed her. "Don't you dare!" He yelled, seeing Vi, a bit disoriented, but frightened in Lioness' grasp.

Lioness laughed at him. "Goodbye, red ranger!" She ran off faster than he could get up, cursing himself and punching the ground hard in anger.

~PRAG~

"Vi's gone!" Geo exclaimed as she stormed into Ranger Ops, quickly locating Maya sitting in front of the monitors.

Maya's eyes widened. "What do you mean, 'gone?'" She rounded on him, standing up quickly. "What happened?"

"Lioness attacked us and had me on the ground. Vi got her off but was kidnapped in the process." He grabbed his head in his hands in utter horror. "How could I let this happen? I'm a horrible ranger, and friend!" Before Maya could respond, he spoke up again. "Where are the others?"

"In the infirmary," Maya responded. "It's pretty bad, but Alicia's working on it."

Geo and Maya walked over and looked through the window into the infirmary, shocked at what they saw. Each of the rangers were covered in bandages and were being attended rapidly by Alicia, Ginger, and Ben.

"What are we gonna tell their parents?" Geo asked, turning to her, not wanting to look at the damage any longer. "What can we do about this?"

Maya gestured to the beds. "Alicia made those beds. She said they had some kind of technology in them that can heal, I guess. It's a bit confusing.. well, that and I wasn't really paying attention, but still."

Geo sighed. "I'm gonna go for a walk. I need clear my head and figure out where Vi is."

Maya watched him leave before going to the monitor again. "Where could you be?" She whispered to herself as she searched for Vi's location.

Meanwhile, the rangers were beginning to wake up in the infirmary.

"Why does it feel like I got hit by a bus?" Roger groaned, pushing himself into a painful sitting position.

The others pushed themselves up as well, leaving the three adults to stand in front of them, looking worried. "You don't remember?" Ginger asked, frowning.

"I remember a monster," Kay told them, wincing in pain. "We were at the gardens."

Cal raised her eyebrows at them. "I honestly remember nothing."

Alicia nodded. "You have a pretty bad concussion, you shouldn't remember." She turned to Tanzo and Roger. "What about you two? You remember anything?"

Tanzo rubbed his injured shoulder. "I remember that Lion monster at the park. Tried to rip my shoulder off."

"I tried to help," Roger nodded in remembrance. "Got me with her claws."

"Well, at least you remember," Ben commented, making Alicia and Ginger nudge him. "Look, you guys will be fine. Alicia did something strange with the beds, so they'll heal you."

Kay frowned. "Then why do I still hurt?" She asked.

"For some reason, I messed up when I was making them, and it doesn't work as well when you're not conscious. You should be fine in a few hours or so, which means your families don't have to know." Alicia told them.

"Thank god," Roger muttered under his breath.

Tanzo raised his hand, and Alicia nodded at him to let him speak. "So, what are we gonna do now?"

"Actually, a better question would be, where's Geo and Vi?" Cal asked, looking around.

"From what I've heard," Alicia pursed her lips. "Vi got kidnapped by Lioness, and Geo's okay. He's going find her."

Roger frowned. "You're letting him go alone? That's extremely dangerous. Look at what she did to us!"

Ginger gave him a look. "Well we can't send you guys out there to fight. You're injured badly. Who else could we send?"

~PRAG~

Maya sighed as she watched Geo go into the boxing studio. Since the rangers needed to train, Ben had made them all keys to get in whenever they wanted to, and it seemed as though Geo felt the need to come here.

She had no idea why, though.

Maya walked towards the boxing studio, hoping he wouldn't see her, though he seemed much more invested in changing and boxing. When she got up to the window, she saw him inside, dressed in a red sleeveless shirt and black shorts as he savagely punched a punch bag.

She walked inside, and he didn't even notice her.

"You know, you're gonna break that if you hit it any harder," She commented, making him only raise his eyebrows in response. "Geo, stop. You're not gonna get anywhere by doing that."

Geo still didn't stop. "What exactly are you trying to accomplish?" She asked. "I get it, you're upset, but come on. Nobody's perfect."

Suddenly, Geo stopped and rounded on her. "Don't say that," He growled. "I can try."

"So, sitting here trying to rip that punching bag from the ceiling is trying to be 'perfect?'" She asked, crossing her arms.

"You don't understand. I lost." He scoffed, making a pained face. "I failed."

Maya frowned. "Everyone fails once in while. It's a part of life. There's no way around it."

Geo clenched his fists at his sides. "You could succeed. Losing sucks. No one likes a loser."

"What exactly do you consider a loss?" She asked. "Because you can succeed on different levels, you know."

He shook his head. "No, you can't. There's success and loss. That's it. There's no in between."

"How does it feel?" Maya asked.

"What do you mean? Losing?" Geo frowned.

"No," Maya shook her head. "Living in a false sense of reality." She rolled her eyes. "You can't live your life always expecting better, or even expecting to make everything that sucks better, because things are gonna suck, and there's nothing you can do about it. Yeah, Vi got kidnapped, but I didn't hear about you throwing her at the monster. Lioness kidnapped her, not you." Geo opened his mouth to speak, but Maya cut him off. "Before you say it, sure, you could've done better, but that's over now. You gotta move on and save her. You can't dwell on it, because nothing will get done if you do."

Geo crossed his arms. "You still don't get it." He whispered.

Maya put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but we can't sit here and talk about it all day. Like I said, we have to save her."

"I don't even know where she is," Geo rubbed the back of his neck. "How am I gonna do it?"

"I know where she is," Maya smirked. "Let's go, and don't tell me that I can't come. Lioness is a strong opponent, and you're gonna need back up." Geo opened his mouth to refuse her when she gestured out. "We need to go, come on."

She ran out, and he sighed, following her to the location.

 **Now**

"Bad choice for you, good choice for me," Lioness smirked before launching herself at him.

Geo quickly pulled out his Eagle Sword and swung it at her as she got near, making her growled and try to grab at his legs. He jumped up to avoid her arms and tried to stab at the ground where she was reaching.

He missed as she ducked out of the way and attempted to grab him on the way down. He jumped back and pointed his sword at her as she stood up above him, her claws raised.

"I guess that was a bad choice!" Geo exclaimed, forcing the sword forward.

Just when he thought it was over, Lioness flipped backwards and kicked the sword out of his hands, making him fall back in the process. Lioness walked up to him, chuckling from above.

"Was it really that bad?" She asked, walking around him, looking ready to strike at any moment on the downed red ranger.

Geo saw his sword near him and saw Lioness ignoring it. "You can do it Geo!" Maya yelled, drawing Lioness' attention. "I believe in you!"

When she was distracted, Geo lunged forward, grabbing his sword and plunging it through Lioness' middle.

Lioness screamed in pain and and fell forward as he pulled it out. She looked back at him. "I guess I really did make a bad choice."

She fell forward and exploded as Maya got up and ran to hug Geo. "You did it!" She exclaimed.

They heard something behind them and saw Vi, out from behind the forcefield, destroying the remaining Chimera, who went down like rocks. She walked over to them and joined them in a hug.

"You saved me!" She cried.

"I say this calls for a ranger dinner," Maya commented. "Vi and I will make you guys dinner outside of Ranger Ops, how does that sound?"

Geo smiled. "That sounds great."

~PRAG~

Up on her ship, Terra screamed in anger. "Lioness was beaten by those stupid rangers!" She yelled.

As if on cue, Valcon came into the room, holding a small vile of black-ish powder. "I have a solution to that problem right here," He held up the vile. "Just leave it to me. Those rangers won't know what hit them."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Kay wakes up in an unknown place where she has to face some of her biggest fears.

 **The last little part with Terra and Valcon is set up for the next five or so chapters, called the Fear Factor arc. All of the rangers will have to face their biggest fears to escape a dream-like reality and get back to the real world.**

 **How do they get into this state? Find out in the next chapter!**

 **Again, feel free to check out my new story, Power Rangers: Guardians of the Galaxy! The second chapter to that should be up ASAP!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	13. Ep 11: Fear Factor Part I

**So, this chapter is the beginning of the Fear Factor arc, where the rangers get stuck in an unknown place to face their worst nightmares. First, they will be in a totally random and common fear that I made up for them, and then, fears based on their personalities and what their creators said for them.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy it, and here's Kay's chapter.**

* * *

Kay came to slowly, rolling over and enjoying her soft sheets without opening her eyes. She sighed in enjoyment as she felt like she was floating on a calm ocean. Come to think of it, it kind of smelled like the ocean as well.

If she listened hard enough, she could even hear water lapping around her.

 _That's not right._ She thought. She moved over a bit and was startled when her bed moved as well.

She suddenly sat up and looked around. "What? No way, I must be dreaming," She said aloud as looked around her. Her bed was floating in the middle of the ocean, no land in sight.

She touched the water, and was not only surprised when it felt very real, but when she felt something foreign graze her hand. She immediately pulled away when she saw a fin come out of the water and begin to circle her.

 _Maybe it's just a dolphin,_ She hoped.

When three more fins popped up to surround her, she shook her. "You're obviously not dolphins!" She exclaimed in fear, moving to the middle of the bed.

She screamed in fear as one of them hit the side of the bed, making her pillows and blankets fall into the ocean. She saw the sharks quickly move to attack the object in the water.

Then, a door appeared a bit away from her, but it wasn't within reach of the bed. If she wanted to get to it, she would have to swim. Seeing as the sharks were distracted, she stood up.

She was only wearing her pajamas, a simple tank top with sweat pants, and worried they would slow her down, and worried about what was on the other side of the door.

Taking a deep breath, she jumped hastily into the water, immediately attracting the sharks attention. She swam quickly to the door, the water trying to drag her back.

Just before she reached the door, a shark lunged at her. She punched it in the nose, like she had seen in movies about shark attacks, making it avoid her. She grabbed the door handle and pulled it open before jumping out of the water and crawling inside.

 **~Cue Opening 2~**

Kay coughed and spluttered out water as she made it to another room. This room was her bedroom, but she was still wet and was on the floor, rather than her bed. She looked up at her bed and saw it was not only wet with water, but wet with blood as well.

The rest of her room was trashed as well, blood everywhere and things gone and destroyed.

"No way," She whispered, looking down at herself, seeing a stab wound on her abdomen. She hissed in pain and pulled herself up into a standing position, holding her hand over her wound.

Kay limped to the bathroom, pulling out her first aid kit before pealing her tank top off of her wound. She looked down, seeing that it wasn't bleeding as bad as it could, making her assume she had been hurt for a while.

She grabbed a gauze pad and taped it to her wound, securing it in place before putting her tank top back over it to hold it together.

Then, she pushed herself up and carefully exited her room. She looked down the hall, seeing blood splatters everywhere in her home.

"Mom?" She called quietly, just in case the person who did this was still there. "Mom?" She called a bit louder. "Dad?" She asked, just in case, even though it was likely he wasn't there. "Hunter?" She even asked.

She walked down the hall towards her parent's room first. She opened the door and was shocked. The whole room was destroyed, and there was blood everywhere. Kay began to get extremely worried, and knew she had to find and help her family.

"Mom?" She called again, loudly, suddenly not caring about if someone else was in the house. "Where are you?!"

Before she left, she spotted her father's suitcase in the room, opened and ransacked. "Dad?!" She cried.

She ran down the hall to her brother's room and threw the door open. His room was the same way as hers and their parents'. "No, no, no, no, no," She whispered, going into the room and looking under the bed.

"Hunter?" She asked, looking everywhere.

She exited his room and went into the bathroom to cover all of her boundaries, and found no one in there either. She looked down the stairs to see a body at the bottom of them.

"Dad?" She whispered in shock. "Dad!" She called to him, walking slowly down the stairs.

He groaned in pain, and opened his eyes weakly as he looked up at her. "Kennedy?" He said.

"Dad," She ran down the stairs and knelt down next to him. "What happened? Where's mom and Hunter?"

"Take this," He breathed out heavily, taking out his gun from his pants and handing it to her. "There's.. someone here," He whispered.

"Who?!" She took the gun from his hands. "What is going on?!"

He touched her hand. "You'll be okay - get him."

She saw his eyes begin to close and shook his shoulder, but it was to no avail. She stared in shock at her father's body before standing up and cocking the gun angrily.

"Where are you, you son of a bitch?!" She yelled. "Come and get me!"

As she walked into the other room, she saw her mother, dead in between the couch and the coffee table. Her body was limply hanging slightly on the couch, and one of her leg was twisted at an unnatural angle, laying up on the table.

Kay shuttered in horror, but refused to cry. She had to find her brother, and whoever did this.

Hearing a cry from the other room, Kay ran in to see her brother being held by a taller, husky man with a knife to his throat. She immediately pointed the gun at the man.

"Let him go," She ordered, not wavering one bit. "Now!"

The man pressed the knife slightly against Hunter's throat. "You'll kill me if I kill him, and you'll kill me if I let go. Damned if I, damned if I don't. Might as well take someone with me in the process."

Kay immediately shot the man, but as he fell, he made an incision in her brother's throat.

"No!" She cried, running forward to grab him as he fell. She held her hands to the wound, but he shook his head. "Don't even," She yelled, even though he couldn't hear her. She knew he must have known at least something of what she meant.

"Please," She whispered.

He touched her hand and pulled it away, allowing himself to bleed out. She stared in shock at his body before hearing a sound behind her. It was another man, holding a gun towards her.

She looked up at him, surprisingly no tears in her eyes. "You don't even care," The man growled, taking the gun off of it's safety. "You don't care."

Kay felt tears well up in her eyes, despite her efforts not to let it happen. "I don't cry," She whispered, before looking down at Hunter. "I don't want to. Crying doesn't make the pain go away. It makes you weak."

"Maybe that's why you're gonna die," He said.

A tear fell from Kay's eye and hit her brother's cheek. Suddenly, he disappeared from her arms. "What the...?" She asked, looking around frantically. She looked over, and both men were gone.

As was the destruction throughout the room. She stood up slowly, finding herself clean of injuries and blood. She walked into the other room to find in in the same condition.

She saw the door open, and walked carefully through it.

~PRAG~

Suddenly, Kay heard laughing. She was now in a classroom, sitting at her desk, dressed in everyday clothes, and had a folder in hands. On the front it read, **Nuclear Reactions**.

She frowned. _What is going on here?!_

"Kennedy Lucas, you're up next!" The teacher called, startling her.

Kay looked at her in shock. "What?" She asked, making students around her laugh. She blushed in a bit of embarrassment.

The teacher gestured to the board, a bit irritated. "You're up next." At Kay's confused look, she continued. "For your presentation. I have it right here," She gestured to her computer. "It's ready to go."

Kay felt her heart begin to race. "Can I not?" She asked, making a weak attempt at a smile.

"No, Kennedy, you're up," She gestured again to the board. "Come on, or you fail."

With a deep breath, Kay stood up, but felt as if her body was being weigh down by tons of bricks. She walked slowly up there.

 _You can do this, Kay. You got this. It's just nuclear reactions, you could do that in your sleep._

"Hi," Kay muttered as she went up and her power-point popped up. "So, you guys know what a nuclear reaction is, right?"

The teacher rolled her eyes. "Kay, you're supposed to be teaching them about it, not having them teach you. Please do your presentation."

Kay sighed. "Okay." She went to the next screen, and was shocked to see it blank. "Umm..." She looked through her folder and saw it was all blank as well. She usually just read off of her work to get through a presentation, as she was terrified of public speaking.

"Kennedy, you can just read off of it," The teacher continued, bored with her stalling.

She scoffed. "It doesn't say anything!" Kay exclaimed. "What am I supposed to say?!"

The teacher frowned. "Kay, I see words, and I know you can speak them. If you didn't do it, I wouldn't let you up here. Are you feeling alright?"

Kay stared in shock as she looked back up at the presentation, still seeing nothing. "Yeah, I'm just.. sorry. The presentation says that nuclear reactions occur because of unstable atoms."

She continued to speak, and as she did, she saw words beginning to appear on the screen. The presentation began to move by itself as everyone in the room froze out of nowhere.

She stopped and waved her hand at them, shocked to see no one move a muscle.

Looking over, she saw the door illuminate. _This is getting old - really, really fast._ She thought as she walked towards the door and entered.

~PRAG~

Kay was thrown into the botanical gardens, standing there with Cal just like she thought she had done earlier that day. Cal had her hand on her shoulder, and gave her a strange look.

"So.. do you wanna talk? There's no one else here." Cal told her.

She frowned. "What about the monster?"

Cal also frowned, but in confusion. "What monster? We're here for team bonding, you seem like you wanna talk. I can't force you, and I told you that, and now you wanna talk, right?"

 _Team bonding?_ Kay thought. _That's weird._

"Uhh.. yeah. I just.. you know, my mom and I used to come here when I was young. It was like my mom's favorite place," She gestured to the bench by the rose bushes. "My dad proposed to her right there. We came here one day, while my mom was pregnant, and she said we'd come back with my brother and be a family and stuff. That never happened."

Cal gave her a look, raising her eyebrows. "That's it?"

"Well, no," Kay was hurt by her insensitivity. She began to forget that it was likely that this wasn't real. "We didn't come back because my father's always traveling for work and my brother, Hunter, is deaf. My mom spends most of her time babying him, and doesn't really spend time with me. It just hurts my feelings, you know?"

"It's that kind of selfish, though?" Cal crossed her arms. "I mean, your dad has a job, and your brother's deaf. Your mom nor your brother can help that. Maybe you should just deal with it."

Kay scoffed, backing a bit away from her. "Excuse me? You have no idea what it's like to be ignored constantly by your mother since you were four years old! I needed her! She wasn't there for me!"

Cal rolled her eyes. "Sorry, but that's not a good excuse for being selfish. You push your family away because of things they can't help, and you push your 'friends' away because you don't trust them. You think that everybody's the same, but they're not. You can't judge a book by it's cover, right? So why are judging everyone around you? Why do you shut others out? All because Kay wants to be the center of attention? Is that how it is?"

Kay growled low in her throat. "You.. bitch!" She lunged at Cal, knocking her down and pinning her to the floor.

"You have no idea what I've been through!" Kay yelled, punching the other girl in the face. "Why should I call you my friend? You don't know anything about me!"

"Maybe that's the problem," Cal said, spitting the blood out of her mouth. "You don't try to let people know you. You just don't get it."

Kay frowned in confusion. "Get what?!"

Cal smirked. "The only way to break the wall is to break yours," She told her. "That's all I can say."

"Break mine?" Kay suddenly realized what she meant. "I'll tell you what my problem is, Cal. I am sick and tired of people putting others before me! I hate being people's last choice! Yeah, it may be selfish to think this way, but I have been ignored and shoved aside my whole life! I don't deserve this! I want my mom and dad to treat me like I mean something!"

Cal interrupted her. "Well, do you feel like you mean something?"

Kay took in a deep breath and nodded. "Hell yes! I mean something huge! I save the world, along with some.. pretty cool people who I wouldn't mind being friends with, if I could. I just don't like making friends, okay?"

"Why?"

She sighed. "Because I'm scared. I'm scared of other people doing the same thing to me as my parents did. I know I can't be everybody's first choice, but I wanna be _a_ choice. I don't know what it is, really. I guess it just scares me to think that I'll alone forever. I mean, I'm not a super sociable person anyways, and no one should expect me to be, but that doesn't mean I wanna be alone. I just never tell anybody. I don't want them to think I'm needy."

"Well, you did tell me," Cal gave her a small smile as she began to glow slightly. "Good job." She touched her shoulder. "Do the same in the real world, okay? Have good life, Kay. I mean it."

Kay frowned. "What do you..."

She was cut off as she suddenly opened her eyes and saw a very familiar roof above her. She felt herself laying in a bed, and also felt different.

"You're awake!"

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Tanzo is faced with his worst fear in the second part of the Fear Factor arc.

 **So, you guys got a behind the scenes look into Kay's mind! I decided to do this arc to get you guys to know a bit more about the rangers, and there will be a chapter for each ranger, if you were wondering.**

 **Also, if you guys haven't yet, check out my new story, Power Rangers: Guardians of the Galaxy! I just uploaded chapter two, and will be uploading the next chapter soon. I'm not sure if I'll update this before that or not, since this is an arc, and it's easier to keep track of when I do it together, but who knows? I'll probably upload one of the two soon, so keep a look out!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	14. Ep 12: Fear Factor Part II

**This is the second part of the Fear Factor arc, and I really hope you guys are liking it so far! I know it's pretty different from the usual power rangers, since there isn't too much fighting going on, but I really wanted to show a different side to my rangers.  
**

 **If you guys like this arc throughout the other three rangers, I might do it for the upcoming rangers as well! Just let me know how you guys are feeling about it, and I'll totally be up for it. I love writing chapters like these!**

 **Frank is portrayed by Jake Abel**

* * *

Tanzo let out a sigh of relief as he rolled over, attempting to bury his face in a pillow.

"Ah, Saturday," He muttered out loud.

He then frowned a bit as he found no pillow. Without opening his eyes, he attempted to find a pillow to let him sleep in longer. He felt all around him, and smiled when he felt something a bit soft near him. He assumed that his mother, Moriko, had been around the night before and put a blanket over him.

Thinking of the night before, however, Tanzo couldn't seem to remember anything at all. He vaguely remembered something about a lion and hanging out with his friends. He really liked his friends. He would consider all of them his best friends, definitely. His favorite out of the others was definitely Cal. She was really nice, pretty, understanding.. and did he mention pretty?

He smiled just thinking about her. She was so shy sometimes, but she had the biggest heart out of most people he had ever met. He liked her a lot. Being her date to the homecoming dance was very exciting for him. While he didn't actually know her before then, he had seen her around. He had always thought she was very beautiful.

When he thought she was dating Vi, he was shocked. Not because he had a problem with her sexuality, but because he found himself pretty jealous about the whole situation. He would love to go out on a date with Cal, even under those circumstances. At least it was something, right?

Tanzo continued feeling around, and felt another thing that didn't feel soft. In fact, it felt strange. It felt like it had.. legs?

He then began to feel something crawling on him as well. Quickly, he jumped up and shook himself off. He looked around and screamed.

"What the...?" He clenched his jaw in fear as he stood in shock.

His bed was nowhere to be found, and he wasn't in his room, instead in a gray room with no windows. The room was pretty dark, but he could very easily make out the forms of spiders and spiderwebs all around him.

"No way," He whispered. Tanzo quickly swiped his hands all over him, making sure none were on him before looking around for a way out. "This can't be happening."

Walking forward a bit, careful not to get too close to any spiders, he could vaguely make out the form of a door in front of him. The only problem was that there were spiders all over the door and on the ground in front of the door.

He took a deep breath. "Okay, Tanzo," He told himself. "They're just spiders. You can fight monsters, what's the problem? You're not afraid of them. You're the best ranger around, you can just walk over to that door and get right through." Tanzo looked hesitantly towards the door still. "Come on, just act like they're not real. That's easy."

Tanzo walked forwards slowly at first, but once he felt one touch his foot, he ran quickly to the exit, grabbing the door handle, and ripping it open, shaking off the spiders before running out.

 **~Cue Opening 2~**

Tanzo bent over, hands on his knees, breathing deeply and trying to regain his bearings. Looking at the ground to make sure there were no spiders around him, he slowly looked up.

He saw that he was in his house, and that a girl with long blonde hair was sitting on his couch in front of his large TV. He smiled hesitantly. "Cal?" He asked.

"Yeah?" She asked sweetly as she turned around to look at him. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

He stood up completely and walked over slowly, shocked at what he was seeing. Cal was sitting on his couch, wearing nothing but small spandex shorts and one of his T-shirts, which was too big on her.

"Hey," He smiled, still shocked. "What are you doing here?" He sat down on the couch next to her, touching her arm lightly to make sure she was really there.

She looked confused. "What do you mean? You invited me over for a scary movie date," She shoved him playfully. "I was so excited," She said alluringly. Cal leaned forward quickly and kissed him as he heard the microwave beep from the kitchen. "Ooh, that's our popcorn! I'll go get it,"

She got up quickly and ran to the kitchen, leaving Tanzo staring after her. He had no idea what was going on, or why Cal was acting different, though at the moment he found himself just accepting the positives.

He turned to look at the TV just as the villain in movie, Norman Bates dressed as his mother, killed his first victim. He cringed and looked back towards the kitchen.

When he looked back, however, he found himself confused. The light in the kitchen was on a moment ago since Cal was in there, but now it was off.

"Cal?" He stood up, and began to walk towards the kitchen when he heard the sound of a knife being sharpened.

Suddenly, the TV shut off, making all of the lights dim in the house. "Hello?" He asked quietly. "Is anyone there?"

He heard someone approach from behind him and stood incredibly still. As the person got close to him, he could feel their breath on his neck.

"I'm gonna kill you," The voice whispered in his ear.

Tanzo quickly took off running down the hall with the man following him. He pulled the door to his room open and quickly hid inside, locking the door while the man pounded on it from the outside.

He looked around for any kind of weapon to use to protect himself when he turned to see Cal, dressed normally, staring at him. "Why would you think that way about me?" She asked, looking hurt.

"Cal," He was quickly embarrassed and laughed to shake it off. "Umm.. I don't? What's going on?"

She gestured to the door, which was moving with every hit. "I think someone's trying to kill you."

He nodded. "Can you help me?"

"No," She frowned, crossing her arms. "You have to help yourself. Go out there and face your fears." She demanded.

Tanzo took a deep breath, mustering up some strength. "Okay," He said, fear evident in his tone. He walked over to the door and put his hand on the handle. He looked back at Cal, and she nodded, still looking upset with him. He took a deep breath and pulled the door open, prepared for whatever came his way.

To his surprise, nothing happened. Tanzo looked down the hall to see lights back on and no one around. "Cal, he's gone," He turned back with a smile towards her, but she just shook her head at him before disappearing, much to his shock. "And, now you're gone too."

He sighed before walking through the door frame he was standing in.

~PRAG~

To his shock, he was suddenly on the streets. _What just happened?_ He thought. _This seems strange, even for being a ranger. I mean, I'm all for fun and games and crazy stuff, but this is out of my comfort zone, for sure._

He looked down at himself to see ratty clothing and, out of the corner of his eye, he could see that he had a mustache and beard that was obviously not groomed. He seemed to be much older than he was.

He also had a sign in hand that was asking for money.

Tanzo could see people passing him by, giving him both looks of disgust and looks of sympathy. Not only that, but some people just ignored him and walked by him without a word or look.

He was a bit shocked at the little amount of people cared that he was very obviously homeless.

Then, he saw someone familiar walk by. "Roger?" He asked, standing up straight to stop him. Roger, who looked to be dressed very finely, looked over at him, but kept walking by. "Wait," He tried to stop him, but Roger shrugged him off and kept walking.

Tanzo sat down on the bucket he had and sighed. He looked up as another familiar face walked by. "Kay," He stood up once more to greet her. "How are you?" He stopped her, and the man she was with. Kay was dressed in a doctor's uniform while the man she was with wore a baseball jersey with the name Giles on the back. The man had brown hair and eyes, lightly tanned skin, and was about 5'7.

"Tanzo," She said, looking quite uncomfortable. "Hey..."

The man frowned. "Kay, who is this? A friend?" He asked, not unkindly.

Kay shrugged. "Uhh.. no one, sweetie. Just someone I knew from.. high school, was it?"

"Yeah," Tanzo nodded, a hopeful smile on his face. "You remember me?"

She gave him a pursed lip smile as she noticed people staring. "Yeah, but we have to go. My fiance has a baseball game to play in, right?"

"Of course I do," The man nodded. "Have a nice day," He patted Tanzo on the back as the two kept walking.

Tanzo was about to walk back to his seat when he saw Geo walking nearby as well. Geo was a bit roughed up, probably getting off from work, and he was walking with another man, who he was holding hands with. This man had tan skin from his Asian descent, brown hair and eyes, and was about 5'7 as well.

"Geo," He didn't try to stop him, but Geo looked over and frowned.

Geo looked him over. "You don't look too good. It sucks you didn't get into that college. If you did, you probably wouldn't be here right now," He nudged his boyfriend. "Come on, B, let's go. It's hard to look at a sight like this." He said sympathetically.

Tanzo frowned hard at this situation. He hadn't gotten into college. His only really realistic dream of becoming a therapist was ruined, and so was his life.

He looked back over at his bucket to sit on. Behind it was a cardboard box with all of his possessions that he had left in it.

"Tanzo?" A voice said, seeming confused.

He turned around to see an older Cal, dressed nicely and standing next to who he assumed was her girlfriend or wife. She had curly dark brown hair, blue eyes, pale skin, and was also about 5'7. She, like Cal, was very beautiful.

Tanzo gave her a half-hearted smile, expecting her to walk away as well. "Hey, Cal."

"What happened?" She asked, moving closer, her wife a bit behind her.

He shrugged. "I didn't go to college. My.. realistic dreams didn't work out."

She frowned. "Realistic? You have other dreams?"

"I've always wanted to be in a band - play the guitar for them. It would be really really fun, and I'm definitely good enough. Even better than that, but it's hard to find one these days, you know?" He shrugged.

Cal chuckled a bit. "You know, no dream is impossible. I think you should go for it," She then gestured to her wife. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but we actually have to go. We're going to her brother's house to see her younger sister," She looked fondly at him. "I hope I see you around again, maybe in better conditions."

As Tanzo watched her leave, he sat down on his bucket again, looking through his box, only to find his guitar being the main thing in there. Seeing as there was plenty of people around, he sat his guitar case on the ground and began to play a song he wrote in high school. It was a happy tune, with no words.

Soon, people began to gather around him, throwing tips in his case as they listened. Even people walking by threw coins or a dollar in there.

A few hours later, Tanzo collected up the money and smiled as it was enough to get a good meal. He packed up his guitar, leaving all of his other stuff behind, and walked through the door of a restaurant.

~PRAG~

Suddenly, Tanzo was outside again, not holding a guitar, and was back to being 17. He frowned, however, as it wasn't like before. Welch County wasn't that big of a town, but when you walked down the street, you could definitely see people around.

Right now, though, no one was around at all. In fact, cars were abandoned, as was food, drinks, backpacks, purses, and anything else people could've been carrying with them.

He began to walk slowly down the street, worried this was something he had to help people with. He was prepared for anything.

Usually, though, there would be injured people laying in the streets, and most objects, buildings, and cars would be at least partially destroyed. There was no one in sight.

"What's going on?" He asked aloud. "Is anyone here?"

Tanzo began to get nervous. He didn't like being alone or in the silence too long, and for most of the time so far, he had been majorily alone, with rude contact with people, if any.

He tapped his fingers on his thighs as he walked down the street, trying to find somebody or anybody around.

After walking for quite a while, Tanzo ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. "Why is nobody around?" He yelled.

"I'm around," A male voice said from behind him.

He turned hastily to see a young man, about the age of 20, with short blonde hair, green eyes, pale skin, and was about 6'0. He stood strong in front of him, and had a green shirt on. "Who are you?" Tanzo asked, grabbing the man by the shoulders.

The man chuckled and pulled his hands off. "I'm Frank Marsh, the green Ancient Animals ranger. You must be Tanzo, the yellow Animal Guardians ranger."

Tanzo nodded, staring at him in shock - with a smile on his face. "You're from the team before us!" He exclaimed excitedly. "You must know what's going on."

"Unfortunately, I do. The reality of it all is that this isn't reality. You haven't met him yet, but Valcon, one of Terra's generals, trapped you here with poison in your food. This is your mind that we're in. We're exploring your deepest fears." Frank explained.

"Well, if this isn't real then how are you here?" Tanzo asked, frowning in confusion.

Frank sighed. "I'm not real. Alicia's healing.. things are helping your mind get on some sort of track, similar to the other rangers. You're basically getting help out."

Tanzo seemed alarmed. "The others are doing the same thing?!"

"In their own way," Frank nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "They're in their own minds, going through their own fears. I don't exactly know what's in their minds, but it's probably not good."

Tanzo pursed his lips. "Okay, well how do I get out?"

Frank gestured to a door down the block from him. "Leave me and go to the door. Except that you're gonna have to be alone sometimes. You can't always except or hope that there will be people around for you. Sometimes you have to do things for yourself."

The yellow ranger looked down the street at the door and nodded. "Okay," He began to walk towards the door, but looked back at Frank once more before walking down the street. Frank was gone.

Tanzo sighed and walked down the street, his hands shoved into his pockets and his head down. He felt very uncomfortable. When he reached the door and touched the handle, he began to hear things.

He turned back, seeing people beginning to appear just like the were before they disappeared. He looked back down the street and saw the other rangers wave at him. He almost waved back before he opened the door and stepped through.

Tanzo took in a deep breath as he awoke, a familiar view coming into his line of sight.

"You're back,"

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Cal is faced with her own worst fears in the second part of the Fear Factor Arc.

 **This was a bit of a new side of Tanzo - one that hasn't really shown yet. He was only like this because his fears mostly played on his insecurities with others. I hope you guys liked this side of him!**

 **Anyways, I'm really liking writing this arc so far, and I hope you guys are liking reading it! I might just finish this arc before I update Guardians of the Galaxy. I didn't really get much reception on the last chapter of that story, which disappointed me a bit, so I may just end up doing the next three chapters of this before I get to the next one of that.**

 **If you really want me to update Guardians of the Galaxy while I write the next three (which shouldn't take me too long), just let me know in the reviews. I'll be happy to if you guys want.**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	15. Ep 13: Fear Factor Part III

**Here's Cal's part; enjoy! Also, if you like the Fear Factor arc and want me to do it for the incoming rangers after their chapters, just let me know in the reviews!**

* * *

Cal laid in her bed, tangled up in the sheets, twisting and turning. She had been sleeping for a while - that she knew - but didn't know how long or why she couldn't fall back asleep now that she had began to awaken.

She was actually quite surprised that her alarm hadn't gone off yet, nor had her mother yelled at her to get up for school, nor did Luna rub up against the window to be let in or fed. She must've been up pretty early if none of those things had happened yet.

The weird thing was that she could somewhat tell that it was bright out, making it at least morning. She should've been told to get up by someone at this point.

Maybe she was just off from the dream she had. It was so strange. She had a dream about her and Tanzo on a date. She wasn't too aware of what she was actually doing at first, but soon became more aware and realized it was practically one of his own dreams about watching a horror movie with him. She got angry, but before she could confront him about it, she was in his bedroom. He came running in, and she knew everything that was going on.

Cal was a bit upset because she thought Tanzo knew she didn't think of him like that, but then again, she did see the jealous look on his face when she was pretending to date Vi. She sighed, not knowing how she would approach the situation if it ever came up. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she couldn't compromise her own happiness for his, especially since she knew he wouldn't be having fun if she was moping around the whole time.

She also had a two other dream sequences where she was less aware. The first was Kay and her fighting, then she was with.. her wife? Cal wasn't exactly sure, but Tanzo was homeless and she was dating.. or married to this beautiful women. She didn't know her name, but she was amazing just to look at.

After a few more moments of waiting, Cal reached her hand up from her bed to grab her phone. She did successfully, but not without knocking something down into bed with her.

Cal jumped up and screamed, scooting back as far as she possibly could, seeing a lifelike doll fall next to her on the bed.

"Mom?!" Cal yelled, trying to get off of her bed without touching the doll. "Where did this come from?" She yelled, stepping carefully down from her bed. She looked up and around her room, shocked. Lifelike dolls in all shapes, sizes, and types were planted all around her room on anything they could fit on. "Oh my god," She whispered.

Cal ran to the door and tried to open it, only to find it stuck shut. "What the hell?!" She began to pound on the door. "Mom?!" She yelled. "Mom?! Help!"

Seeing as no one was coming to help her, Cal turned back and ran over to the window, only to see dolls in front of her window, and her window was locked shut, which it never usually was.

"This is impossible," Cal began to pace, rubbing her arms in an attempt to calm herself down. "I must be dreaming again."

She heard laughing all around her. "This isn't a dream, Callie," The one that fell on her bed began to move and sit up. "We're here to play with you!"

Cal stared at it in shock before trying to move closer to her door. A few dolls nearby began to also move towards the door. Cal got there just as one grabbed the handle too.

"No!" Cal screamed, throwing the doll to the side, shattering it's porcelain head against the wall before she finally turned the door handle and ran out of her room.

 **~Cue Opening 2~**

Cal suddenly found herself out of her pajamas and into a small room, about the size of an average bedroom, with nothing in it. She looked around frantically, shocked by what just happened.

"Okay, I may have seen my fair share of crazy, but this definitely takes the cake for craziest thing ever," Cal muttered, looking around again. The room only had carpet, walls, windows, and a door, with nothing else in sight. She walked over to the door and tried to turn the handle. She sighed. "Of course it would be locked."

She walked carefully towards the windows, trying to open those, to no avail. She was beginning to get a bit frustrated and took a deep breath to calm down. "So, how to get out of here, Cal?" She whispered to herself.

Suddenly, a person appeared. She turned to him and stared in shock. "Hello?" Cal asked, feeling a bit of anxiety. Her heart was beginning to race.

"You're beautiful," Was the first thing the man said, trying to walk closer to her.

Cal backed away, her heart beating faster and her breathing getting more difficult as she began to hyperventilate. "Umm.. please stay away," She put her hands out in front of her to defend herself when she backed into something.. or someone.

Another man, looking about the same as the other one, looked at her and smiled. "Wow, I've never seen someone as pretty as you before."

Cal's hands were shaking as both of the men kept following her around no matter where she went in the room. "St.. stay away," She stuttered. "Pl.. please."

Then, two more men appeared. Cal kept moving away. She tried to tell them to stay away but she felt like her throat closed and her tongue was incapable of forming words, leaving her defenseless against the men, especially since she felt weak in the knees, and if one of them came at her, she was afraid she would freeze up.

Four more appeared, making her begin to sweat and feel nauseous.

Eight more.

Sixteen more.

Cal was extremely overwhelmed, having the room filled so much that she was squished in the middle of all of them as they all tried to get at her. She felt like limp noodles. She couldn't move a muscle, and felt like she could pass out - or die - at any moment.

A sound erupted in the building and the walls began to close in, making Cal aware that she had to get out or die.

She looked over and saw the door again. She also looked at the windows, wondering which one was closer. Seeing as the door was about to be swallowed up by the wall, Cal made her limbs move over towards the window. She quickly unlocked the window, and the walls stopped moving. She turned around to look at the men to see them all staring at her.

She took another shaky deep breath and looked at them, waiting for the attack. It never came. The men all knelt down in front of her, bowing their heads at her.

After they didn't move, Cal opened the window and climbed out.

~PRAG~

Cal was now standing up on the side of a stage, dressed in a very fancy and classy outfit, and holding cue cards in her hands. She frowned and looked towards the stage to see a man giving a speech to a large crowd.

She immediately hid farther behind the curtain and took a deep breath.

"There is no freaking way I'm doing this," Cal threw her cards down.

Suddenly, she was back in the same spot she was a second ago, and the man was speaking at the same part of the speech over again. The crowd, however, was bigger and the people seemed unhappy now.

Cal shook her head and backed up. "No, no, no, no, no. This cannot be real,"

"One minute, Miss Campbell-Danielson," A woman said as she began to pass her.

She grabbed the woman by the arm and pulled her to the side, "What did you say?"

The woman seemed confused. "One minute until you go on stage. You and your fiance's large charitable company is making the announcement of the wedding," She explained.

"My fiance?" Cal asked, taken aback. "I'm 17 and single,"

The woman laughed. "You've always been a crack up, Callie. You're 24 and getting married to your partner. This is very big for the LGBT community, especially since we're such a big charitable corporation."

Cal frowned. "First of all, I have no idea what you're talking about, and second, I probably wouldn't like it if I did. I don't want to announce this to the world just for profit and publicity. I can do without it."

"Your future wife is sitting out there waiting for you, so I suggest you go," The woman disappeared into thin air, as did the man on the stage. This didn't seem to affect anyone in the crowd at all, which made Cal quite surprised.

"You're on," A stagehand pushed her out onto the stage, making her trip a bit as she walked. The crowd laughed, and Cal felt her anxiety rising again. Her palms were sweaty as she fixed her cards, which she found had no words on them.

She put the cards on the stand and stared out into the faces of the crowd, feeling her heart beating a mile a minute, and her breathing quickened.

"Hello," She said, before pausing. People in the crowd stared at her as if she wasn't good enough to be up there. She felt faint. "I'm Callie Campbell, and I'm here with..." She looked behind her to see the sign of the company. "Campbell and Danielson Charity with an announcement."

Cal looked out into the crowd, and her eyes focused on one person. This woman was the same one from her dream that she was married to in. _Who are you?_ She wondered.

"I am getting married to my associate and girlfriend, Miss.." She looked down and saw the name, "Danielson." She heard gasps, and laughs from the crowd. Some people got up to leave. "Wait.. I have to say something. I am not doing this for attention or for profit or anything. I'm doing this because I'm in love with my girlfriend, and I want the whole world to know it," Cal blurted out.

She felt her breathing stop for a minute as people seemed to consider her words. After a moment, people began to sit back down and quiet back down.

"Now, I don't exactly know what I'm doing here, or even who Miss Danielson actually is, but I really do wanna know,"

The woman stood up and walked up to the stage to Cal. "I'm..." She suddenly stopped talking and looked behind her. Cal looked back and saw a door appear. "Not real. At least not here. Get out of here, go through that door. You need to get out."

Cal frowned. "What?"

"You're stuck in a dream, Cal. You were poisoned by Valcon shape-shifting and putting poison in your food. You have to conquer your fears. Do it," She took her to the side of the stage. "We'll meet soon, I promise."

Cal took her by the arm. "Who are you?"

The young woman smiled at her and then touched the pendant around Cal's neck lightly before touching her own neck, where Cal could see a small pendant hiding under her shirt.

"You're a ranger?" Cal stared at her in shock, but the young woman pulled her off to the side and opened the door before Cal could speak again. "Wait, who are you?!"

She exclaimed as the woman pushed her through the door.

~PRAG~

Cal suddenly regained her bearing as she was thrown into a hospital setting. She frowned as she looked around, before locating a mirror. Looking into it, she was shocked to find herself at about the age of seven years old.

"No way," She whined. "Not again. What now?"

Sighing, she looked around again. She saw the numbers on the door she was outside of and reached up to touch them lightly.

 _~Flashback~_

 _Seven year old Cal walked into the room. The numbers on the outside of the door were 313, and they were numbers Cal would never forget. On the bed in front of her was her father._

 _He was pale and withdrawn, his face sunken in with sickness. Cal held onto her mother's hand tightly, afraid of the sight she was seeing. She didn't know it then, but it probably really hurt her father's feelings that she was so afraid of him._

 _Her mother knelt down in front of her and held onto her shoulders. She had tears in her eyes, "Callie, sweetie," Rebecca addressed her, tucking a loose hair behind Cal's ear. "Your father has to go, now."_

 _Cal frowned. "What do you mean, mommy?" She asked innocently._

 _"Umm.. well, he has to go away for a long time. You won't be able to see him again, honey. He's going to.. heaven." Rebecca told her, worried at how Cal would react._

 _The young girl immediately had tears in her eyes as she broke away from her mother and ran to her father's bedside. "You wouldn't leave me, would you, daddy?"_

 _He took her hand. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart, I have to. He wants me a bit early."_

 _Cal ripped her hand from her father's, extremely distraught, and ran out of the room. Her mother chased after her, but she ran to a nearby closet and slipped in. She locked the door behind her._

 _She sat in the corner and bawled, refusing to let her mother in, despite Rebecca pounding on the door to get in._

 _~End of Flashback~_

Cal carefully walked into the room and was shocked to see her father there, looking the same as he did on the day he passed. Her mother wasn't there.

"Dad?" She asked, and he turned his head towards her slowly. She was startled at how bad he looked, not exactly remembering since she was so young at the time, and had basically no knowledge of what happened to him. Now, although she looked seven, she still had all of the knowledge she had now as a 17 year old.

Her father gave her a tired smile. "Hello, sweetheart."

Cal had tears running down her face as she suddenly felt herself get taller and older again. "Dad, I miss you so much."

"Callie, how did you...?" Her father was shocked at her sudden change in appearance.

She shrugged. "Does it matter? I'm here, and I love you so much," She ran forward and hugged him as tight as she could without causing him pain. "I am so, so sorry for the way I ran out on you. I've never forgotten about it, and upsets me just to think about it. I was seven and scared and I thought the world was ending and I didn't know how to deal with it, I'm sorry," She pulled away and touched his face. "If you ever came back, I would treat you like such a blessing, because I always thought a mom and dad were there forever, and I'm so sorry for that."

Her father began to cry. "It's okay, Cal. I love you too."

The two embraced once more until suddenly Cal felt him disappear. Cal looked around and let out a little sob. "I didn't want that to disappear."

Suddenly, a new form appeared in the bed, making her jump back in surprise. She looked in horror as her mother appeared, sleeping soundly in the bed.

"Mom?" She asked, moving a bit closer. Her mother had wires all over her body, and she aged rapidly until she looked to be about 90. Cal also aged, being about 65. "Mom?" She repeated.

Cal moved closer to the bed, touching her mother's shoulder, but Rebecca didn't move. "Mom, please," She pleaded, shaking her shoulder lightly. Her mother didn't stir, and the devices in the room seemed to be off.

"No," Cal whispered. "This isn't happening."

She stared on in horror for a few more moments before looking up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry I wasn't here, mom. I should've been, and I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for all of the times we fought and disagreed, and for not always appreciating everything you gave me. I love you so much, and I'm going to appreciate everything from now on. I promise."

Then, her mother slowly disappeared, and the door behind her opened. Cal slowly aged back to 17 and looked at the bed before walking towards the exit.

She opened her eyes, seeing a familiar face above her.

"Thank god, you're up!"

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Roger faces his worst fears in the 4th part of the Fear Factor Arc.

 **I really, really hoped you liked Cal's part. I put a lot of experience into this chapter. I have an anxiety disorder, similar to Cal, and used a lot of what I feel for her own attacks. I also don't have either of my birth parents around, and while they're not deceased like Cal's father, I used a lot of the emotion that that brings into this chapter.**

 **Anyways, I, again, hope that you liked this chapter and I will be updating soon. I may also be updating Guardians of the Galaxy soon, so check that out!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	16. Ep 14: Fear Factor Part IV

**Here's Roger's part! I'd also like to point out that I'm glad a few of you are noticing the foreshadowing I have in some of these chapters. This chapter will have the most foreshadowing out of the five so far (I think), but I have yet to write Geo's part so I guess we'll find out, won't we?**

 **Anyways, since I'm pretty sure none of you guys read these author's notes, let's get on with the chapter.**

 **Erica (EJ) is portrayed by Keke Palmer (I am aware that this is the same actress as Therese, but this is the actress the creator chose)**

* * *

Roger groaned a bit as he awoke. He usually hated waking up in the morning, not just because it meant he had things to do, but because mornings were always stressful for him.

He had to get up, get ready, eat breakfast, and get in the car before his brother drove him to school. Not to mention, this was all while his brother hounded him about how being late would affect his future.

Roger just want to tell him to be quiet and that he was doing better in his life than Chris was in his. His brother had begun to go back to school on a regular basis, and while Roger wasn't the type to get involved in his brother's life, he was getting really concerned. It was getting to the point when he would get to the car after school to see Chris slumped at the steering wheel, sleeping.

Now, this may seem like a normal thing to do, but Roger knew better. Chris had never been like that in his life. Actually, Roger had seen him go through the day, completely fine, on 4 hours of sleep.

Roger wasn't close with his brother - Chris didn't exactly make that easy - but he was starting to spend more time around him because of his worry.

Thinking of his brother, it was a bit surprising that Chris had come to wake him up yet. Roger sighed and tried to roll over to get out of bed up found himself on a strange surface.

The black ranger opened his eyes and looked down to see him laying on a doctor's office-type bed. He sat up and frowned.

"Where am I?" He asked aloud, jumping off of the bed and trying to open the door. He found it locked. "Hello?" He knocked on the door. "Is anyone there?"

When no one responded, Roger turned around to see a doctor standing there. He was startled and frowned. "When did you get here?"

"I've been here, young man," The doctor gestured him to the bed. "Please sit."

Roger hesitantly got up onto the bed and sat there. The doctor rolled up his sleeve and began to clean his arm. Roger began to chuckled nervously. "Umm.. what exactly are we doing here?"

"You're getting a shot," The doctor said, walking over to the shelf where he keep the medicine.

"No, that's not happening," Roger shook his head. "I don't do needles."

The doctor gestured to the door. "Well, you're getting a shot or you can't leave. That's how this works."

"Excuse me?" Roger scoffed, getting down and going over to the door. He pulled and pushed on it as hard as he could but it wouldn't open. The doctor came over, a very large needle in his hands. "Get away from me!" Roger growled, shoving the doctor to the floor.

Suddenly, another doctor appeared next to the one that was there, and she had an even bigger needle than the first.

Roger gasped and stood there in shock. He grabbed the needle from the first doctor and stuck it in the second doctor, making her disappear. Her needle fell to the floor. He ran to that needle as well and stabbed it into the first doctor, but he didn't disappear like she did.

Instead, the doctor grabbed the needle out of his body and stuck it into Roger's arm before shoving him towards the now open door.

 **~Cue Opening 2~**

Roger was shocked when he was thrown forward into a completely different setting. He was now at home, standing next to the front door.

"Roger!" An angry voice called to him from the kitchen.

He walked forward slowly to find his brother standing in the kitchen, looking over a piece of paper. "Chris? What just happened?"

Chris slid the paper across the table. "I'll tell you what just happened. You got all B's, instead of A's."

Roger looked at the paper in shock. "That's impossible. I know my grades are good. I check them constantly."

"Obviously that's not true. The paper doesn't lie, Roger," Chris shook his head at him. "I'm so disappointed in you. You know, you try so hard, but you're never gonna be as good as I am."

"No, that's the way it is," Roger swallowed the lump in his throat. "I just.. I don't know what happened."

Chris glared his way. "You never do. You're always trying to blame the other person for your mistakes instead of yourself."

"That's not true," He said, a bit more forceful.

His brother scoffed. "Oh yeah? Then why do you think the reason you're so unhappy with your life has to do with the way others do things and with the way they treat you,"

Roger took a deep breath. "Are you talking about you? Because, you do make me unhappy with my life, actually. You know, you've always been better than me and told me I wasn't good enough because you knew it. Instead of encouraging me, like older siblings should do with their younger siblings, you put me down! You're the exact reason for most of, not only the way I act, but my problems!"

"But you wouldn't tell me that in person, would you?" Chris crossed his arms. "You're afraid of that."

Roger clenched his teeth. "You haven't been acting like that a lot lately."

Chris smirked. "And why do you think that is?"

"I don't..." Roger trailed off as he began to realize what he was saying. "No.. that's not.. you didn't..."

He nodded slowly. "Well, I haven't found out yet, but yeah. Have fun, Roger."

Chris disappeared slowly and Roger stared in shock as he heard a door open behind him. Taking one look back, he walked through it.

~PRAG~

Roger was now standing in a shocking setting. He was standing in the oval office of the white house, with people walking all around him. Looking up at the wall, there was a picture of him in a suit. A much older him.

He grabbed one person by the arm. "Excuse me, what's going on?"

"Mr. President, don't worry about it. We can handle it," The man assured him, before walking off.

Roger frowned in confusion as he began to walk down the hallway, looking at everything around him. As he continued to walk down the hall, he saw a picture on the wall of himself again, but this time it was with a woman and a child. On the bottom of the photo was a caption engraved into the frame. It stated: **President Hershel Deekins, First Lady Erica Deekins, and daughter Christine Deekins.**

He touched the engraved words lightly.

"Admiring your picture again?" A female voice said from behind him.

Roger turned to see the woman in the picture behind him. Erica had dark skin, sleek black hair, brown eyes, and was about 5'6. She was dressed in a maroon t-shirt, black pants, and white sneakers. She was beautiful.

He shook his head. "I was actually admiring your picture, Erica."

She chuckled. "You know you can still call me EJ, even if we're not in high school anymore." EJ walked over to the picture and touched it fondly. "We have a beautiful family."

"We do," He nodded, wrapping an arm around her. "You're the best looking, though. Our daughter gets her looks from you."

EJ wrapped her arm around him as well. "She is the most precious thing in the world. Christie is such a sweetheart." She pulled away for a moment before giving him a worried look. "She found a picture of.. who she was named after, and she's been asking about when she's gonna meet him. I think you need to tell her that she can't meet her uncle."

"Why?" He gave her a strange look.

"Because he's gone," She gestured vaguely upwards.

Roger frowned. "Are you talking about Chris?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes. He died shortly after you announced you were running for presidency, remember? He was really upset when found out, actually. I remember when you told him. He was talking about how you were throwing your life away and how this wasn't your dream."

Roger sat down in a nearby chair, stunned by what he was hearing. "And then?"

"A nurse escorted you out of the room." EJ shrugged. "I don't see why he was so angry. I mean, this is your dream, isn't it?"

He sighed. "No, actually, it's not. I.. always wanted to be a writer. I guess I went to law school or something, but I really want to be a writer."

EJ frowned. "Why didn't you?"

"My parents, and my brother. I was worried they would be disappointed in me. My parents were business people and Chris tried to become a surgeon, and I just wanted to be a writer. I didn't think they would like that."

"They don't," A voice said as the scene around him melted into him in his house once again, with both of his parents standing in front of him. "You're telling me you're going to skip college to become an author? Unacceptable." His mother sneered.

Roger was deeply confused. He didn't understand what just happened at all.

"What?" He asked.

His mother, Valerie, scoffed. "Don't play dumb with me. Actually, you might not be playing. Maybe you really are just dumb. Skipping college? Please. This better be a joke."

"Neither of you kids are going to do anything with your lives, are you?" His father, Bart, asked.

Roger frowned. "Excuse me? We're doing fine." He stated.

"Not if you don't go to college, you're not," Valerie growled. "We're not having both of you quitting. Neither of you have an excuse."

"Uhh.. yeah, we do," Roger almost laughed at how ridiculous his parents were. "Being a writer is a good profession, especially since I have the skills and knowledge to do so. Not only that, but I already have something in the works. Now, as for Chris, you should know why he can't do it."

Valerie laughed. "I work just fine. Anyways, we're not talking about Chris," She glared towards the living room, where the person in question was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. "We're talking about _you_."

"What about me? The fact that I want to do something that means something to _me_ with _my_ life?!" Roger exclaimed. "I'm sorry that you two do everything so perfectly. I'm sorry you raised screw ups! Get over yourselves! Our lives aren't yours!"

Just then, his parents disappeared. "Where did they go?" Roger asked as Chris slowly made his way into the kitchen, his hand on his chest. Roger looked over at him, and was startled when he saw his face contorted in pain. "What's wrong?"

"I think.." He gasped in air as he leaned heavily on the counter. "Somethings.. wrong."

Roger moved quickly towards him and caught him as he swayed forward and almost fell. The black ranger, not being able to support his weight, fell to the ground with him, making sure to cushion his fall if anything.

Chris squirmed in pain, clutching his chest and hyperventilating. "No, no, no, no," Roger whispered, trying to hold his brother still. A knock on the door startled him. "Damn it," Roger propped him up against the counter in the kitchen and ran towards the door, hoping it was someone who could help him.

When he got to the door and opened it, he found just black space all outside. Roger put his hand out, and was sucked out of the house.

~PRAG~

Roger was suddenly sitting in a waiting room in the ICU area of the hospital. He stood up when he saw the doctor, Moriko Tachibana, walking towards him.

"Unfortunately, Roger, we've done everything we can," She told him, giving him a sympathetic look. "It's just a matter of time. All we can do now is try to make him comfortable."

He pursed his lips in a bit of anger at himself. He felt like there was something he should've done to stop it, but at the same time, he knew there really wasn't. "Can I see him?"

She nodded, and he nodded his thanks to her before rushing down the hall. When he got to the room, he walked in slowly, seeing everything he didn't want to see.

The door suddenly rammed shut behind him, startling him and waking his brother, who looked at him exhaustedly. Roger turned back to him with a weak attempt at a smile.

"I don't know what just happened, sorry," He inched over and sat down in a chair next to the bed, Chris giving him a look.

"What, do you think I'm contagious or something?" He joked weakly. "You take a long time to walk from the door to here."

Roger laughed half-heartedly, before a grim look settled on his face. "Chris, this isn't a time to joke."

"So what do you think we should do? Sit around and mope while I die? That doesn't sound like the way I want to spend my last.. who knows how long," Chris told him.

Roger sighed. "This isn't can't really be happening, can it?"

Chris made a face. "Well, it's actually happening now, but it will be happening soon." He told him, beginning to slur a bit. "I mean, you gotta.. be prepared. You gotta.. just leave, you know? Admit that you're.. scared and.. move on."

"What?" Roger frowned. He tried to explain again, but found himself feeling more and more tired. Roger was getting scared. "Chris, you with me?"

Chris raised his eyebrows at him as his eyes drooped close. "Ye.. no." He mumbled.

Roger stood up fast, nearly knocking his chair back to the ground as he grabbing his brother by the shoulders. "Come on, don't do this, Chris. Fight it!"

It was no use, however, as the monitors rang out, signifying the death of the patient.

Suddenly, Roger was back to being near the door, and his brother was once again awake. "What?" Roger whispered. "That's impossible."

The same thing happened again, yet a bit slower and a bit more painful to watch. Then, Roger was back to the beginning again. This loop continued a few more times, each time being worse than the last.

Finally, Roger was too overwhelmed. He was taken back to the beginning once more and quickly walked towards his brother.

"How do I end this?" He demanded. "What do you want?!"

Chris looked up at him. "I already told you," He slurred. "You gotta just leave. Admit you're scared and when I.. die you have to learn to live and move on."

Roger had a pained look on his face. "But how? I mean, we may not get along or talk much, and we may get into our arguments and stuff, but you're still my older brother. I don't want you to die or leave. I'd rather have you annoy me and pressure me for the rest of my life!"

"It doesn't always work that way, Roger," He coughed. "You can't stop living when I die."

Roger looked away. "That's easy for you to say. You're dying now, and you're the one who has to deal with it afterwards!"

"It's not easy for me to say," Chris took in a deep breath. "Not only do I not want to die, but I'm not dying now." He sat up out of nowhere and glared at Roger. "This isn't reality, Roger. In reality, I haven't found out that I'm gonna die yet."

"What?" Roger looked at him in shock and confusion. "That makes no sense."

Chris shook his head. "You're stuck in a dream, well, more like a nightmare, but basically you're facing your worst fears. The only way to get out is to face your fears. I can't tell you how to get over it, but I have a feeling you will."

"I will," Roger said after a moment. "I'm gonna grow up and be a writer and live the life I want to live. Our parents aren't gonna hold me back. And, I'm gonna make sure that you're around as long as possible, I promise."

"I'll take you up on that," Chris said before disappearing into thin air.

Roger stared on for a moment before realizing the door behind him was open. He sighed and walked towards the door. He looked around the room one more time and tapped the wall.

"Thanks," He whispered. "For letting me know. I hope I can keep the promise."

He walked through the door. He saw a familiar face standing above his own.

"You're awake!"

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Geo faces his worst fears in the final part of the Fear Factor arc (for now).

 **I've decided that when the other three are introduced, I'll give them their own parts to the arc because I like the deeper elements to the characters that you can't really see initially.**

 **Anyways, about Roger's chapter, I know most of it was about his fear with his brother and him dying, but I wanted to show just how scared Roger is about the whole situation, even if he's not too close with Chris. In a few chapters from now, I will have Roger officially standing up to his parents and stuff, so this is just the beginning of that for him.**

 **So, I hope you guys liked the chapter and feel free to leave a review! It's always encouraging.**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	17. Ep 15: Fear Factor Part V

**Here's Geo's part, which is the final part until the next three rangers come in, which will be soon, I promise! This part will also have the aftermath and show how each ranger feels now that they're out of the dream.**

 **Oh, keep in mind that these dreams, while technically in third-person, are basically from the specific ranger's point of view. Most of the things said are their own thoughts and feelings.**

 **Also, WARNING for the language in part of this chapter. I'm not one to care too much about vulgar language, but this is more of offensive content which I do not condone, and I know a lot of people don't either. I completely support all equality, and I do not agree with anything stated in that portion of the chapter. Be careful if you are easily offended or sensitive to things like that.**

* * *

Even though Geo had been awake for a bit now, he kept his eyes closed in hopes of drifting back off into a peaceful slumber. He tended to have a pretty hard time sleeping, so the nights that he had a good night's sleep, he usually relished.

This sleep was so good, in fact, that Geo felt like he had been given some sort of sedative. It was a bit strange, but at this point, he had to take a win for what it was.

That's not how Geo felt about most things, though. He still couldn't get over the fact that he had let Vi get kidnapped the day before, or that the other rangers got hurt and he couldn't help. Thankfully, everyone was okay in the end, but he had messed up. Badly.

It was even hard for him to think about, mostly because, when he did, all he did was self-loath. It was that way with most things he wasn't the best at, or even good at. The big problem was that he often wasn't that good at anything. He always tried to be perfect in everything he did, but he always fell a bit short.

Maybe he wasn't trying his hardest. That could be it. He really didn't know what else to do most of the time.

Once, when he was young, he asked his mother what it took to be perfect. She told him there was no such thing, and he threw a fit. When she noticed he didn't begin to realize that perfection was almost impossible, she made him an appointment with her friend, Rebecca Campbell, Cal's mother. Rebecca was, and still is, a therapist. He was made to go to her office for weekly appointments to this day, even though he didn't want to half the time.

No one could really convince him that perfection was unattainable. While he acted like it was no big deal, and that it was normal to want to be successful, he knew that it wasn't normal to think so strongly about it. It destroyed his sense of self-worth to constantly be thinking about ways to be better.

Then again, maybe it _was_ normal. Maybe more people than him thought this way. Maybe he really just wanted to be successful in life and others didn't want him to.

No, that's not right. He knew this wasn't normal. Every so often, he wondered if it was, but he always ended up back at the conclusion that he knew it wasn't right.

He knew, logically, that Maya was right when she said he lived in a false sense of reality, and he also knew that, logically, he had no reason to think this way, but it made no difference.

Rebecca called it depression, but Geo was a bit skeptical of this diagnosis, and refused to take anti-depressants like she said he should. He felt safe in his dark feelings. No matter if he was perfect or not, those feelings would always be there for him.

Geo sighed before frowning against the light that was hitting his closed eyes from the nearby window, and tried to roll over. He found himself unable to do so, as he had something wrapped around his hips.

He moved his hand down and felt a seat belt around him. He turned his head to the side to open his eyes and was startled to see other people around him.

Geo quickly sat up in his seat, letting the pillow he was resting his head on fall to the floor, and looked around. He was currently sitting in the window seat of an airplane, with multiple people all around him.

He looked out the window and was shocked at how high in the air they were. Geo always had a slight fear of flying, and heights. The fear of flying was tied, not only into heights, but into the fact that he was afraid to the plane crashing and him dying.

Then, the plane ride got a bit bumpy, making Geo hold on tight to the arms of his seat.

The pilot began to speak. _"Ladies and gentlemen, we're having a bit of a dilemma currently. Everybody please remain calm and stay strapped into your seat."_ Geo looked out of the window, extremely startled. He saw the ground approaching much faster than it needed to. A few moments later, the pilot spoke up again. _"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, prepare for a rough landing."_

Geo pulled his seat-belt off and shook his head. "Nope," He said. "I'm not dying today." He walked over to door on the airplane, and looked out the window once before he did anything, seeing the ground approaching faster and faster every second. He hesitantly opened the door, and was suddenly flung out of the airplane into the air at a high speed.

 **~Cue Opening 2~**

Geo had closed his eyes, expecting the worst, when he found himself not feeling so much like he was flying through the air anymore. He opened his eyes to find himself at home and was standing in the living room. He heard arguing from the kitchen and frowned.

"Noah, I'd like you to leave right now," His mother was demanding. "This is my house, and you are _not_ welcome here."

The man, Noah, scoffed. "I have a right to see him. He is half-mine, you know."

Ashley almost laughed at him. "Please. He's not something you can own, and, either way, you gave up your right to do anything with him the minute you walked away."

"You've always been the selfish one, Ashley. He's my son too." Geo's eyes widened from his position behind the wall dividing the kitchen and living room. "I have every right to see him. Besides, why are you making the decisions for him? He's like.. 16, now. He can make his own decisions."

"He's 17, and I doubt he'd want to see you either." She growled. "Get out."

Geo peeked past the wall in time to see Noah grab his mother and push her hard against a wall. "I wanna see him. Now."

"Let her go," Geo stepped into the kitchen, grabbing the first thing he saw to defend himself, which happened to be a wooden spoon. "Now!" He mocked.

Noah stared at Geo for a moment before letting Ashley go. He looked him over. "Wow, my son got big."

Geo shook his head. "I'm not your son. I don't care what DNA, or anybody says. I will never consider myself your son. Get out of my house!"

Suddenly, both Noah and his mother disappeared. He looked around in shock before he saw a door glowing slightly. He walked towards it and opened it before he was sucked through it.

~PRAG~

Geo landed at school and looked around. Nobody was out of class yet, but he stood in the middle of the hallway. Then, he felt someone take his hand and immediately tried to pull away. He looked over to see a guy around the same age as himself staring at him in confusion.

"What's wrong, Geo?" He asked innocently.

Geo tried to pull away again. "Why are you touching me?" He asked, looking around to make sure no one could see them.

The boy frowned. "Because we're dating," He chuckled awkwardly. "Why do you think?"

"That's impossible," Geo shook his head, shocked at what he was hearing. "I don't like.. guys."

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, you can't keep playing that charade after our date yesterday. I mean, I know it was more private than anything but still. I'm not embarrassed, so why are you? You're never gonna get anywhere always caring what others think of you."

Suddenly, the bell rang, and Geo's eyes widened in fear. Everyone came out of their classrooms and stood around them in a circle, staring them down, some looking angry and some looking disgusted. Geo stood frozen to the spot while the boy holding his hand didn't seem to mind.

The boy shook his head in shame. "All of you people disgust me. You just think we're disgusting for being in love when it's just all of you that are the problems."

"Fag!" One boy called out in the crowd. "You're faggots!"

"Homo!" A girl yelled.

Geo looked to the side to see his friends all staring at him with different expressions for each of them, none of which were good. He frowned at this, however. Why would Vi, Maya, or Cal have disgusted looks on their faces? They were LGBT. Something wasn't right.

While people in the crowd continued to yell vulgar and inappropriate things at them, Geo tried to think how this happened. The boy hold his hand nudged him. "This isn't real, Geo," He whispered. "Break out."

Geo stared at him for a moment before looking around him. He took a deep breath. "Shut up!" He yelled, making everyone stop and stare at him. "How could you all be like this?! Why does it anger you that two people are in love?! Is it really worth your time to fight against us when we're not gonna change just for you? Go away!"

Suddenly, everyone disappeared except for one of his best friends, whom he hadn't been talking to lately, Eli. He looked him up and down. "You had a crush on me, didn't you? That's why you always acted weird around me."

He sighed. "I'm sorry. Look, I just.. it wasn't really a crush. I discovered myself and you were the first guy I saw. I thought you were the one I was always gonna be awkward around because of it, but now I realize I wasn't really into you. I was more into the idea of finally coming out."

"Which is a good idea." Eli disappeared and was replaced with the boy who held his hand. "You should come out, at least to your friends. You know they're okay with it. It'll help you be yourself in the long run."

Geo nodded. "Thank you. Who are you, anyway?"

The boy moved forward and touched his cheek lightly. "You'll find out soon enough." He pulled Geo in and planted a light kiss on his lips before he disappeared. Geo looked around and sighed.

"Well, the first guy that's mutually interested in me is now gone," He said dejectedly. He saw a door light up and walked through it.

~PRAG~

Geo now found himself in a rough scene. As he looked around, it looked like the world was ending. Buildings were destroyed, cars were flipped over, there were fires, and there were people laying dead on the ground.

He stared in shock before he looked exactly around him. He almost choked when he saw all of the rangers, including ones he didn't even know, on the ground around him. Vi and Maya were also there.

Rushing forward, he got to Kay first. He shook her shoulder. "Kay?" He asked, but her body rolled over lifelessly when he shook her. Geo looked back and ran to Tanzo. "Hey, Tanzo, come on," He turned him onto his back from his position on his stomach and saw a big red spot on his shirt. He lightly felt the area and pulled away in shock when he felt the fatal wound on his chest.

Geo backed away, and ended up bumping it Cal. He turned to see her head at an unnatural angle which could only be accomplished by a broken neck.

He looked over and saw Roger on the ground a bit away. He crawled over slowly, but stopped at the point when he could see all of the blood surrounding his body. When he went to look at Vi and Maya, he noticed they weren't any better off.

"Red ranger," A voice growled. Geo turned to see a short man with black hair, red eyes, and wearing a fully black suit. "Seems you have failed to protect your friends."

 _I failed?_ Geo shook his head in sudden extreme distress. "No. This isn't my fault! I couldn't have done this!"

"You didn't," The man smirked. "I killed them, you just didn't do anything."

"That can't be true." Geo stood. "I would never leave them for dead. I couldn't do that." He looked the man over. "Who are you, anyways?"

"I'm Valcon. I used to be considered one of Terra's generals. Until I overthrew her and killed the ones that were worthless to me." He told him.

Geo looked around at his friends to see a few of them had already disappeared, and the others were slowly going as well. "You knocked me out to kill them, didn't you? You're just trying to make me think I'm the only one who survived to make me seem like a failure! I am _not_ a failure! You are!"

Suddenly, Valcon exploded and Geo shielded himself against the blast. When he looked around, the scene around him was fixed back to normal with buildings and cars upright, and no fires. People walked among the streets and his friends stood up tall and healthy.

Geo looked around and saw the door waiting for him. He walked over to it and touched the doorknob before he looked back at his friends. He looked to Maya specifically. "You were right. No one is perfect, and I can't expect to be, can I?" Maya shook her head. "I'm not failure just because I'm not perfect."

He turned around and opened the door.

~PRAG~

Geo took in a sudden deep breath as he sat up in bed. He was laying in the infirmary, with the other rangers all waking up as well.

"You guys are back," Vi smiled. "Thank god. You five were under that spell for almost 6 hours. I thought we would have to call your parents and make up some sort of excuse for why you weren't home."

"What time is it," Kay asked, rubbing her head tiredly.

Maya looked at her phone. "About 9:30," She responded.

The rangers began to stretch and stand up, when Geo stood in front of them. "I have something to say. I don't know what you guys saw in that dream.. spell.. whatever it was, but I know what I saw." He took a deep breath, deciding to just say it. "I'm gay."

The other rangers, Vi, and Maya all looked at each other before looking back at Geo. Vi smiled. "I'm glad you could tell us Geo."

All of the others in the room nodded with encouraging smiles on their faces. "It doesn't bother anyone, right?"

"Why would it bother us?" Tanzo asked, a confused smile on his face. "We want you to have what you want as your friends."

The others nodded. "Thanks guys." They all embraced in a hug before they pulled apart.

"I think you guys should get going," Maya pointed out. "It's pretty late."

"Yeah, our parents are probably worried," Cal nodded. As the rangers began to leave, Kay pulled Cal aside. "What's up?" Cal asked.

Kay took a deep breath. "Maybe tomorrow we could hang out and I could tell you what I was going to earlier. I really appreciate that you would listen for me, and I wanna tell you what's going on."

Cal smiled. "Of course."

~PRAG~

Tanzo got home and immediately went up to his room to grab his guitar. He brought it back downstairs and sat on the couch. He began strumming lightly as he thought about what happened in his dream.

He had dreamed about Cal, which is what really got him shocked. Not that he actually didn't like her, because he did, but it felt wrong. He knew Cal didn't like him like that, and the way she seemed so angry at one point because of it really got to him.

His phone rang in his pocket and he pulled it out, shocked to see Cal was calling him. He answered cautiously. "Hello?"

 _"Tanzo? I just wanted to call to ask you if what I saw between us was your dream,"_ Cal said.

He sighed. "I'm so sorry."

She was quiet for a moment. _"Look, you're a really great guy, and an amazing friend, but I don't think of you in any other way but that. I'm sorry if I seem rude, or blunt, or something, but I just wanted you to know how I felt so you didn't have to keep wishing or hoping for something that probably wouldn't happened. I'm really sorry."_

"No, I knew it was too good to be true," Tanzo looked down guiltily, even though she couldn't see him. "I would never disrespect you like that. I just want you to know that. I don't know what overcame me."

 _"I trust you. It was just a dream, alright. Don't worry about it. I'm not upset,"_ She said. _"I know you would never intentionally do anything like that."_

Tanzo nodded. "Thank you, for calling. It helps to know how it is, sometimes."

 _"Of course. I gotta go now, I'll see you soon, though."_ She told him.

"Okay, bye," Tanzo hung up the phone and nodded. "It's better than not knowing."

~PRAG~

Kay made it home and found her mother waiting on the couch for her with her arms cross angrily. "Kennedy Marie Lucas, where have you been?!" Diane demanded. "You've had me worried sick!"

She nodded and ran towards her mother, hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry, mom. I love you."

Diane was shocked at this sudden gesture, which they hadn't really shared in a while. She hugged her daughter back. "I love you too, sweetie. Is everything okay?"

Kay pulled away, wiping tears from her eyes. "I've just missed you for a long time, but I was being selfish for a while. I know that Hunter needed the extra attention, but now, mom, he doesn't really. He's almost 13, and I know he wants more freedom, just like I want more time with my mom."

Her mother nodded. "I know, sweetheart, and I'm so sorry. All these years I've been neglecting you, but I won't do that anymore. How about this weekend, you, your brother, and I will go down to the botanical gardens?"

"I would love that so much!" Kay hugged her mother again, and Diane kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Well, it's late," Diane gestured upstairs. "You should head to bed."

Kay nodded. "I'm gonna go say goodnight to Hunter first, alright?"

"Okay,"

Kay walked into her brother's room to find him sitting on his bed, reading a book. She walked over to him and stood in his line of vision so she didn't startle him. Hunter looked up a second later and immediately got out of bed to hug his sister. She hugged him back before he pulled away.

'Where have you been?' He signed.

She smiled. 'Sorry, I was at a friend's house. I didn't mean to worry you.'

He nodded half-heartedly. 'Okay, I believe you.'

'I love you, you know. I've just been busy lately.' She signed to him, speaking while she did so.

Hunter gave her a big smile. 'I know, I love you too. I just want you to be okay because you're my sister.'

'I am, I promise,' She gestured to the bed. 'Go to bed, it's late. You have school tomorrow.'

He nodded and got into the bed. She walked over and smiled at him as she turned off the light and left the room.

~PRAG~

Cal walked into her house and immediately went over to the picture of her father hanging out the wall. In this picture, her previously healthy father was holding her as a baby and both of them were smiling brightly. She missed the days when she would come home from school and her father would be waiting to take her to the park. That barely lasted a year, as he got sick a little bit more than halfway through her kindergarten year.

"Callie," Her mother came down the stairs, yawning. "Did you just get back? Where have you been?"

Cal walked quickly towards Rebecca and engulfed her in a hug. "I love you,"

Rebecca hugged her daughter back. "Is everything okay, Cal? Did something happen?"

Cal pulled away. "I fell asleep at a friend's house and I dreamed about dad." Rebecca got a solemn look on her face at the mention of her husband. "I've always felt so bad for running away that day. I know I was young and scared, but it's not an excuse. I should've stayed."

"Sweetie, I think he knows you're sorry," Her mother touched her cheek lightly. "He knows how scared you were. I was scared too, but I was a lot older than you. You didn't understand."

"I think he knows too," Cal wiped a few tears away from her eyes. "I'm happy that he at least knows how I feel. It's easier now that I realize it."

Rebecca pulled her in for a hug again before she gestured to the TV. "Come on, let's watch a little TV before bed. Get our minds off of it."

"Thanks, mom. I'd like that."

~PRAG~

Roger got home to find his brother sitting out on the front steps, waiting for him. When Roger got closer, Chris stood up and looked at him a bit angrily.

"Where were you?" Chris asked. "It's late."

Roger was about to say something snarky when he decided against it, remembering what he saw. "I'm sorry. I lost track of time."

Chris blinked at him in confusion for a moment before nodded. "Yeah. Is everything okay?" He asked, noting the way Roger was looking at him.

"I fell asleep at my friend's house," He started. "I had a dream about.. you dying. Please, be honest. Are you gonna die?"

His brother sighed. "I don't know. I think it's getting worse, and I'm worried about something like that happening. I have a doctor's appointment next week, so we'll find out what's gonna happen."

Roger walked towards him and hugged him tightly. "I don't want you to die. We might not get along most of the time, but you're still my brother. I love you."

Chris was shocked. The two hadn't really hugged or talked like that since they were young, and even then it felt forced. "I know. I.. love you too."

The younger pulled away and looked at the older. "No matter what happens, I want you to know that I'll be here."

"Thank you, Roger," Chris nodded after a moment. "Same. I'll always be here for you too."

Roger gestured to the house. "I guess we should go in."

The two walked into their house, Roger behind his brother. He went to close the door and looked out over the city with nod before closing the door behind him.

~PRAG~

Geo got home to find his mother sleeping on the couch, still dressed in her uniform, with her shoes and even her makeup still on. He looked towards the kitchen and saw food waiting for him.

He walked towards Ashley and covered her with a blanket from the back of the couch before he walked into the kitchen and began to eat the dinner she had made for him.

He briefly wondered if she even knew he wasn't home, or if she was just too tired from work to wait up for him. Geo felt quite bad for his mother. She always had to work long hours to provide for them and was always tired from doing so. She hardly ever got to eat the food she bought, and half the time she just sent Geo to the store or a restaurant with money because she didn't have time.

Ashley deserved to have extra time to herself. She also deserved to actually have a husband or someone that cared enough to stick around. Seeing, in his dream, how Noah, his father, had treated her was so angering.

She was such a kind person. It was heartbreaking to see how horrible someone could be. Not only that, but Noah left them, yet he still showed up and acted like he deserved to be with them.

It wasn't fair.

While Geo preferred making sure his mom was okay and safe with everything, he wouldn't object to her having a relationship with somebody.

Honestly, if Noah really wasn't that way, Geo might even consider it okay to be with him. Only if he extensively made sure of it, though. After what he saw in the dream, he couldn't be too sure.

After eating, he quietly washed the dishes and made sure Ashley was comfortable by carefully taking off her shoes and tucking the blanket around her.

"I love you mom," He kissed her lightly on the cheek before making his way upstairs for the night.

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Roger's parents return with big news, which makes the situation with his brother even worse. Meanwhile, Geo's estranged father actually shows up, and Kay's brother finds out about her being a ranger.

 **I really hope no one was upset by that particular part of the chapter, but I hope everyone does like that Geo is finally out to his friends now. Sorry this took so long, it was a bit of a hard chapter to write, not just with Geo, but the aftermath of all of the ranger's dreams was hard as well.**

 **Oh, and to lauraosnes, I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so far, and I can only say - get ready to be excited!**

 **Anyways, to everyone else, I hope you liked it and I can't wait to hear what you guys thought!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	18. Ep 16: Home

**I just realized that I'm already on chapter 16, which is crazy! This story's already halfway over! Get ready, because things are going to start getting serious against the Animali!  
**

 **Nate is portrayed by Nathan Kress**

* * *

Roger sat down in the library at lunch, stressed out and tired. Today was when he and Chris found out how the latter was really doing, and it kind of scared him to think about.

"Hey," A female voice brought him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Kay. "I didn't know you hung out at the library."

Roger shrugged. "I don't usually. I only come here when I'm stressed."

Kay sat down across from him at the table. "Your brother?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Yeah, I know how that stuff can be," Kay pursed her lips. "I mean, obviously I can't exactly relate to those problems, but I do know what it's like not knowing and worried. Not so much about my own brother, but more my father. For me, that is." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm being awkward. You can tell me what's going on if you need to."

Roger sighed. "Well, he's going to the doctor today for his test results back, and today's when we find out how bad it really is. I'm worried that it's gonna be worse than we initially thought."

"How much worse do you think it could be?" Kay frowned.

"Well, you know how we were stuck in those dreams?" Roger asked. Kay nodded. "Well, I saw him die in the dream. I'm worried that that would really happen, you know?"

Kay sighed. "Yeah, I get what you mean. Those dreams were so real. It's obviously going to be a concern that something similar will happen."

"What did you see in your dream?" Roger said. "If you don't mind me asking."

She looked a bit uncomfortable. "My family died, mostly. I also saw someone yelling at me because of my problems. They called me selfish, and stuff. I don't know.. it wasn't good."

Roger nodded. "Definitely. I mean, some of my dream wasn't too bad. I was the president, but I honestly don't really wanna be. I actually wanna be an author."

Kay frowned in confusion. "Then why don't you?"

"I know my parents wouldn't accept that. They expect so much from me and Chris, it's insane."

She made a sympathetic look on her face. "I'm sorry. What are you gonna do about it?"

He shrugged. "I think I'm just gonna do what I want and I won't tell them about it. It's really none of their business, to be bluntly honest. It's my life, and they can't run it forever." The bell rang above them, and the two stood up from their chairs. "I'll see you later, alright?"

"Okay, see you later." Kay smiled as the two walked in different directions.

 **~Cue Opening 2~**

Geo was sitting in the middle of fifth period when his teacher called to him from the front. "Gregory, you're going home early." She told him.

He frowned, since he knew his mother wasn't off work yet, but he packed up his things anyways. He stood up with his backpack and walked out, getting glances from Tanzo and Cal, who he passed on the way out.

After getting into the hallway, Geo went to his locker to drop off a textbook he didn't need before making his way out to the front. He looked around for his mother when his eyes caught on someone in particular.

This man had tanned skin, light brown eyes, brown hair, and was pretty tall. Geo had to do a double take at first, before he confirmed who it was, and began walking angrily towards him and his sports car, which he was standing next to.

"Why are you here?" He growled.

The man raised an eyebrow at him. "You actually know who I am?"

"Noah, right? My 'father?'" Geo sneered, putting air quotes around 'father.'

"Well, there are no air quotes involved, considering it's the truth, so yeah. I'm your father," Noah nodded. He put his hand out for Geo to shake it. "The name is Noah Ramirez." Geo didn't shake his hand. "Okay, well, I'm here to pick you up, if you couldn't tell."

Geo scoffed. "I'm not going anywhere with you. I'd rather walk."

"Come on. Your mom told me to pick you up, and that's what I'm gonna do." Noah sighed.

"I doubt that,"

"You can call her yourself if you feel so inclined." Noah offered.

He nodded. "Oh, I will." Geo took out his phone, only to be greeted with a text from his mother.

 **Hey, sweetie, my friend is picking you up from school today. I hope that's alright.**

"There is no way she did that," Geo shook his head. "She wouldn't just be okay with this. You left us!"

Noah sighed. "Look, I wasn't ready to be a father then. I was young and dumb, but I learned my lesson. I came back around about 5 or 6 months ago, and reconnected with your mother. She really wasn't happy about it, but I offered to take her out to get to know her better. She accepted."

Geo looked horrified. "Are you saying you've been in a relationship with my mother for 5 or 6 months and no one told me."

"We didn't think you would take it very well, which you're not." Noah crossed his arms. "Look, Geo, I'm sorry."

Geo shook his head. "I don't need your pity. I'm walking."

~PRAG~

After school, Kay walked into the office to hand over forms from her teacher to the secretary. "Thank you, sweetie," The secretary thanked her, and Kay was about to leave when one of her teachers stopped her.

It was her English teacher, who was also the head of the tutoring center at the school. "Kennedy, I'm glad I caught you."

"What's up?" She asked, a bit awkwardly, hugging her chemistry book to her chest.

"Well, you know I run the tutoring center?" He asked, and she nodded in response. "One of my tutors quit and I really need a new one for the rest of the year. It's not too much work, and there's really only one student left without a tutor, so it should be simple for you."

Kay shrugged, feeling a bit bad. "Well, I don't know. I mean, I've been pretty busy lately and..."

"Kennedy, you're one of the best students I have. It would really mean a lot to me if you helped, and I know it would mean a lot to Nate, too." The teacher gestured over his shoulder at another student. This boy was about 5'7 with lightly tanned skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. He was wearing a silver quarter-sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and black converse. He smiled a bit when he noticed her looking.

She sighed and nodded. "Alright, I'll do it - under one condition. I can only have one student. I'm really busy as is."

The teacher smiled. "Done, and done. Thanks so much, Kennedy, it means a lot."

He patted her on the shoulder, her smiling awkwardly as he did so, and then left. She walked out of the office, but was quickly followed. She turned around to see Nate standing behind her.

"Wait up," He said, chuckling. "What'd you say?"

Kay pursed her lips and looked him up and down, standing there a bit uncomfortably. "I said I'd tutor you."

Nate smiled. "Thank god. I'm Nathan Giles, but you can call me Nate. You are?" He smoothly offered her his hand to shake.

"Kennedy Lucas," She shook his hand with a small smile. "But you can call me Kay."

He gave her a bit of a flirtatious smile, though it was more of a kind one than an objectifying one. "That's a really pretty name." He told her. "So, when do you wanna start?"

"Doesn't matter to me," Kay shrugged. "I'm pretty much free whenever."

"Even now?" Nate asked, shrugging at her playfully.

"Well," Kay chuckled, blushing a bit. "I guess."

Nate gestured forward. "After you," Kay smiled and began walking when he appeared next to her and steered her towards the tutoring center. "Come on, it's this way."

~PRAG~

Roger spotted his family's car after school and walked nervously towards it. He looked in through the car window, and was shocked to see his mother in the front seat, rather than his brother.

He opened the door and stared in shock. "Mom?" He asked, clenching his jaw as he looked on in confusion.

She looked up at him. His mother, Valerie, was a short woman with dark skin, black hair, and brown eyes that looked on with condescending force. "Hershel, it's about time you showed up. I've been waiting at least five or ten minutes for you."

"I thought Chris was picking me up..." He got in the car awkwardly and shut the door behind him.

"So, just because your brother picks you up means that you can slack off? No. He's just as much authority as I am," Valerie said, making Roger try to resist rolling his eyes. Not that he didn't believe that Chris was more authority than he was, but he was nowhere near their mother's standards.

Roger nodded. "Sorry." He pursed his lips. "So, where _is_ Chris? I mean, he was supposed to pick me up after his doctor's appointment."

"That was until your father and I got home. He came back, pretty upset if you ask me, and I offered to come and get you." Valerie told him, making Roger's blood run cold.

He chuckled worriedly. "Umm.. did he happen to say what he was upset about?"

Valerie looked over at him with a suspicious look. "You never would've cared before? What's different now?"

Roger was taken aback. He knew he didn't really get along with Chris that well, but the insinuation that he didn't care wasn't completely untrue. "What do you mean? Of course I care. He's my brother."

"Well, you two just never paid each other much mind, to be honest," She said as she drove down the street. "I mean, it's kind of surprising that you're so interested now."

Roger scoffed. "Well, now I know something that I'm more concerned about." Valerie looked over at him, and he nodded. "Yeah, I know." He rolled his eyes. "Why are you and dad back all of a sudden, mom? We weren't expecting you for at least another month or so."

Valerie awkwardly cleared her throat, very obviously uncomfortable now. "Well, we have some news."

"Good news?" Roger hoped. With everything going on, bad news would make everything so much worse and so much more stressful.

She shrugged nervously. "Well, I'm not sure if you'll be happy about it, but it's definitely not bad news." They pulled up to the house. "You should go get Chris and meet your father and I in the living room."

Roger frowned and got out of the car. He quickly walked inside and upstairs before knocking on his brother's door. "Mom, go away please." His voice said from inside.

"It's not mom," Roger told him, and the door was immediately opened and Roger was pulled inside.

Chris sighed and frowned at him. "Did she drive you home?" When Roger nodded, Chris rolled his eyes. "She's been berating me all day, except when I wasn't here. What did she say to you?"

Roger chuckled awkwardly. "Uhh... she just said that I should stop slacking off and being late because I was five minutes late to the car."

"That's it?"

He shrugged. "Well, after I told her I knew about AS, she got weird. Speaking of which, how was your appointment?" Roger looked a bit worried, but was trying to mask it.

Chris suddenly got quiet and looked down guiltily. "Okay, I need to tell you something first."

Roger sighed in exasperation. "You lied again, didn't you?"

"Well, I said I stopped going to school for the second time, but I didn't," Chris took a deep breath. "It made it way worse."

Roger clenched his jaw. "No, it didn't. It couldn't have. Why would you do that?"

"I found out mom and dad were gonna come back early right when I started to go back, and I knew they would be mad if I didn't go, so I did." Chris rubbed a hand tiredly across his face. "It's really bad, Roger."

"Like, how bad?" Roger asked, really worried now.

"I..." Chris paused for a moment. "I need surgery. My heart is failing. If I don't get it soon, and I keep doing what I'm doing, I'll probably die."

Roger stared at him, his thoughts running wild. "Wha... I..."

Before he could say anything, their mother opened his door rudely. "Hershel, I told you to get Chris, not converse with him."

"Excuse me?" Roger got angry, very quickly. "You don't even know that..."

Chris grabbed him and put his hands over his mouth, making their mother give them a warning look. "We're coming." Valerie rolled her eyes and left, with the two brothers following slowly behind her. "Don't tell her. She'll really pissed." He whispered.

Roger looked at him as if he was crazy. "You're worried about her getting pissed?" He whispered back. "I'm worried about you dying!"

Chris sighed. "Just leave it,"

The two sat down on the couch as their parents stood in front of them. Their father, Bart, stood tall beside their mother and had dark skin, brown eyes, and short dark brown hair that was slowly graying, whether from stress or age, no one knew.

Valerie took a deep breath and smiled nervously at the two. "We have a family announcement," She smiled up at her husband before turning back to her boys. She had her hand on her stomach, which looked a bit bigger than usual. "I'm pregnant."

Bart and Valerie both look excited, but Chris and Roger frowned deeply. "No, this must be a joke," Chris shook his head, clearly upset. "What if the baby has AS? How could you be that irresponsible?" He called out.

He went to stand but Roger pulled him back down. "Calm down," He warned.

"Chris," Valerie gave him a pointed look. "We've already asked the doctor about that and they checked out the heart beat, which sounds fine."

"I bet mine probably did too," Chris finally stood up. "Besides, all you're doing is dumping another kid that you're not going to take care of into this world. That child doesn't deserve that," He took a deep breath and looked down at Roger, who was sitting and looking up at him worriedly. He looked away a bit guiltily and stormed out of the room.

Valerie cleared her uncomfortably. "Well, I didn't expect that from him, but alright then. Are you going to yell too, Hershel?"

"It's Roger," He crossed his arms. "And I agree with Chris. We all know you're not gonna take care of it, but it's okay because we will and he or she will have a better time with us than you anyways."

Bart looked away with pursed lips while Valerie became furious. "You two boys are so ungrateful. After everything we've done for you,"

Roger almost laughed. "Everything you've done for us? All you did was give us money and leave us here - alone. It wasn't our job to take care of ourselves; it was your job to take care of us!" Roger shook his head. "Look, mom, just have the baby and leave like you always do. We can handle it on our own."

He stood up and left, despite his parents yelling after him.

~PRAG~

Kay was sitting in the tutoring center with Nate, watching him as he was attempting to read a passage for English homework. She noticed him squinting and frowning a lot at the paper.

"Are you alright?" She asked, making him look up suddenly.

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, well, I.. yeah, I'm good."

Kay frowned. She wasn't much of one to intrude on people's problems. Before recently, she had always been more of a person to keep to herself, but now, after her mother, Hunter, and her reconciled and she opened up to Cal, she was feeling much more open to other people. "Really?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest a bit uncomfortably. "It doesn't seem like it."

Nate sighed. "Look, I usually don't tell people about it, but I have dyslexia. Actually, I don't tell anybody about it. Which is kind of why I'm doing pretty poorly in my classes. Especially English."

She nodded in understanding. "That sounds difficult. Why don't you tell anybody about it?"

"I don't know," He shrugged. "I guess it's just not something I like to talk about, you know?"

"But, you told me," Kay gave him an encouraging smile.

Nate smirked a bit. "Yeah, but you're an exception,"

"Why?" She gave him a confused smile. "Because I'm your tutor?"

He chuckled. "I don't know. You just are." Kay began to blush when she heard her phone ring from inside of her bag. She reached down and looked at in in confusion. "What's wrong?" Nate asked her.

Kay stared at the caller ID. "It's my brother. He's never called me before."

Nate frowned. "Why not?"

"Well, he _is_ deaf," Kay had her finger hovering over the answer symbol. "He can't hear what I'm saying," She finally swiped it to the side and put the phone to her ear. "Hunter?"

From the other end, to Kay's horror and confusion, she heard screams and running. She also heard the growls of Chimera. "Oh my god," She hung up and texted him that she would be there as soon as possible. She grabbed her bag. "I'm so sorry, Nate, I have to go. Something's happening. I'll see you tomorrow," She gave him a slight smile before running off.

Nate watched her leave as he fiddled with something around his neck which was hidden beneath his shirt. He pulled it out to reveal a pendant with a lion on it. Around his wrist was also a morpher, though it was much better disguised as a watch than the other's.

He packed up his things and shook his head. "Where are you going, Kay? You're gonna get yourself hurt." He muttered under his breath as he got up and walked out of the tutoring center.

~PRAG~

Geo got home to find his mother sitting on the couch with Noah. They were laughing and he had his arm around her. He walked into the room a bit angrily and glared between the two.

"Geo, why did you leave Noah?" Ashley crossed her arms. "We've been waiting here for you?"

Geo scoffed. "And why are you dating Noah? Or, should I say - my father?"

Ashley sat up and looked her son in the eyes. "How did you know that?"

He looked down a bit awkwardly. He knew he couldn't tell her the actual way he found out. "I can't tell you, but I know. What's going on here?"

"Well, that's what we wanted to talk to you about," Ashley cleared her throat. "Noah and I have been going out for a while and..."

Geo began to shake his head. "No, you're not getting married."

Ashley coughed a bit and shook her head. "You're right, we're not. I asked him to move in."

"That's not good either," Geo walked behind the couch and into the kitchen for a water bottle. "I don't approve of this."

"Well, that's not my problem," Ashley followed him into the kitchen, leaving Noah on the couch. "I'm the mother, it's my house, and I can let who ever I want live here. I'm sorry, sweetie, but I've already made my decision. Don't you think it's time for me to be happy?"

Geo couldn't argue with a statement like that. Of course he wanted his mother to be happy, more than anything, but not like this. Not with his father, who was a complete no-show in their lives. Not with some lost love, who might just be using them to get something he wanted.

"Of course I do, mom. Just think really hard about what you're doing." Geo told her. "This could be a mistake you're making because of a high school romance."

Ashley gave him a small smirk. "Some of the best romances are from high school. Just remember that when you meet someone."

Geo stopped her before she walked out into the living room again. "Mom, I forgot to tell you something," He heard his morpher beep and grabbed his pocket like it was his phone. "Well, I have to go see my friends really quick, but I wanted to tell you that I'm gay. Give me your thoughts when I get back,"

He ran out of the house, and was pretty glad that came at the time it did. He was a bit nervous about how his mother would react, so it was perfect that he could tell her and give her some time before he came back to talk about it.

Geo took a deep breath as his morpher beeped again, and began to run faster.

~PRAG~

Roger went up to his brother's room to see him sitting on the side of his bed with his head in his hands. "I'm sorry for the scene I just caused." Chris muttered out, looking up at Roger with a pained look in his eye, though Roger couldn't tell if that was from his condition, or from the emotion turmoil he most likely was feeling.

"Are you okay?" Roger asked, awkwardly standing a bit away from the bed. He wasn't used to having actual talks with his brother.

Chris shrugged. "No. None of this is making anything okay. They're going to bring a kid into this world that they're going to abandon. Do you realize that?"

Roger nodded. "Yeah, but he or she will have us to take care of it. You already have the older brother thing down, and I can learn. We can do it."

His brother sighed and looked down at the ground. "Roger, I might..."

"You're gonna be fine," Roger growled. "And we're going to be here to do what we can."

Chris chuckled humorlessly with a shake of his head. "It's nice that you wanna be optimistic and all, but even if it does work out.. I'm tired, Roger. I'm tired of the way things are." Roger looked at him worriedly. "I mean.. I thought I was happy but I wasn't. It's just hard to want to succeed and impress people so badly, only to find out that you can't." He sighed again. "I just don't know anymore." Roger heard his morpher beep, as did Chris. "What was that?"

Roger smiled nervously. "Oh, that was my.. phone."

The older boy frowned and raised an eyebrow at him. "I doubt that. What was it?"

"I can't tell you," Roger took a deep breath. "But I have to go. And I'm going out your window."

Roger walked across the room swiftly and was already opening the window when Chris got up and looked at him like he was crazy. "What the hell are you doing?"

He shrugged almost guiltily as he sat outside the window. "Like I said, I can't tell you. I'm sorry, Chris."

Chris watched in shock as he jumped down from his second story window and began to run off like it was nothing. He saw Roger raised his wrist up to his mouth like he was talking before he disappeared in a cloud of black dust.

"What?" Chris stared out the window for a few moments, wondering if he was just seeing things before he grabbed his jacket and car keys.

~PRAG~

Kay got to the battle first, immediately looking around for her brother. She thought about calling out for him, but shook her head when she thought about how futile that would be.

A Chimera came running at her and she swung her purse at it before dropping it on the ground and running up to another one and kicking it down as well. She heard a cry and looked over as she saw Hunter duck behind a car as a Chimera swung it's sword at him.

She growled and grabbed the sword before it could come back down. She saw Hunter look up at her in shock as she ripped the sword from the Chimera's hands and stabbed it through the chest.

Kay knelt down next to her brother, offering a reassuring smile. 'Hey, you okay?' She signed. He nodded, shaking a bit in fear. 'Alright, I'll handle this.' She pointed towards a break in between an apartment building and a house. 'Run over there and get home, okay?'

'What about you?' He signed frantically.

'I...' She broke off as a Chimera jumped on top of the car they were behind and growled loudly at them. She quickly stood up and stabbed it before looking around to see more beginning to surround them. 'I have to fight them.' She signed, giving him a sheepish smile as she stood up straight and pulled her pendant off.

"Animal Guardians, Arise!" She called. "Power of the Flamingo!"

Hunter stared at her in shock as she morphed in front of him. She turned to him and gestured to wear she told him to run. He nodded and ran off. From afar, Nathan was also shocked. He was hiding of the side of a building, and stared as she morphed.

"She's a ranger?" He asked, frowning. "I never would've guessed."

Then, he saw two others, Cal and Tanzo, running down the street, morphing as they ran.

"Power of the Gorilla!"

"Power of the Elephant!"

Cal flipped over into the middle of the group, blasting plenty around her to make room for her landing. She ducked under a sword from one who immediately ran at her before she swept out it's feet and blasted another coming close.

Tanzo ran over to help Kay, and sliced one down that came up behind her. She turned around after kneeing one in the chest and smiled under her helmet.

"Thanks,"

"No problem," Tanzo smirked as he kicked one down with confidence. Just then, he felt a strange and sudden pain in his shoulder. He reached back and pulled a dart out of his back. "What the..." Suddenly, he felt lightheaded and his vision blurred in front of him. "Wha..."

He demorphed and fell over.

Cal was the first to notice and leaped over a car to get over. "Tanzo!" She called as she knelt next to him, seeing a bloody mark on his back. She moved his shirt back a bit to see a black ooze in the middle of a very small injury. She looked around and saw the dark in his hand. Cal picked it up and looked it over before turning to Kay. "Watch out, Kay! Someone is shooting something at us!"

Cal dragged Tanzo behind the car and leaned him up against it before looking around carefully. Between two houses, she saw a dark figure holding a dart similar to the one in her hand, and pointing it at Kay.

"Duck!" Cal exclaimed as she leaped out from behind the car and tackled Kay down. The dart hit one of the Chimera, immediately disabling it.

Kay looked around in shock. "What was that?!" She exclaimed.

Cal shrugged as she ducked behind a few Chimera to keep out of the line of fire. "I have no idea, but one hit Tanzo! We have to get him help or something!"

As the blue ranger stood up and began to fight off the Chimera again, trying to keep moving to avoid being hit, Kay looked around. Her eyes quickly caught onto one figure standing on the corner of the street, watching the battle.

"Nate?" She whispered, before she got up and yelled. "Hey, get out of here! You're gonna get hurt!"

He looked towards her, shocked, before ducking behind the building. Kay growled as she knew he hadn't left, but she had more important things to attend to. Seeing Geo and Roger running towards them, morphing as they ran, Kay ran over to Tanzo, who was slumped against a car, unconscious.

"Damn it, Tanzo," She muttered, before lifting her morpher to her wrist. "Vi? Come on, Vi?!" She asked, only hearing static from the other end. "Something's blocking our signals!" She called out to the others.

Roger nodded. "We know," He called back. "We had to be dropped off two blocks from here! There's a monster here that's blocking us off!"

Kay growled and looked to where she once again saw Nate peeking out from behind the building. She got Tanzo up, leaning against her, and walked as fast as she could towards him. "Hey, I need your help!" She called to him, in which he immediately got out from behind the building, shocking Kay at how eager he was to help her. "Can you take this boy to about two blocks from here? My mentor will find his location and get him to safety."

Nate nodded, taking him from her. "No problem.." He nodded to her as she ran off back towards the battle. ".. Kay."

As he began to get Tanzo to safety, he didn't realize his pendant was glowing silver, and that the yellow ranger was beginning to come back to consciousness, allowing him to see it.

Kay got back to the battle scene to see Geo go down after being hit in the center of his back. "Damn it!" Kay exclaimed.

Roger ran over to the fallen leader and picked him up in a fireman's carry. "I'll get him to safety. Cal's in charge!"

"Who else would be?" Kay rolled her eyes as he ran past her.

He ran quickly towards where he saw Nate leaving Tanzo. "Hey!" Roger exclaimed, cringing as he heard Geo groan against the loud sound. "Who the hell are you?!" He demanded, setting Geo down and standing defensively in front of the two.

Nate put his hands up in defense. "Ka.. The pink ranger told me to get him to safety. I'm sorry."

Roger frowned as he saw the faint glow emitting from under his shirt. "Wha.. what's that?"

He looked down and put a hand over the glow. "Nothing," He chuckled nervously. "It's just the sun against my necklace."

The black ranger frowned, not sure if he could believe him or not, but didn't have time to debate about it. "Get out of here," He gestured the other way, where he was shocked to see his family's car driving in. "Go," He said, a bit more distracted. Nate left as Geo and Tanzo were teleported away in clouds of red and yellow dust respectively.

Roger saw Chris, in the driver's seat, stop suddenly when this occurred. He looked straight at Roger's visor as he parked the car. Roger ran towards the car and shook his head. "No, no, no. Civilians are not allowed near a battle," He said, trying to disguise his voice. By the look on his brother's face, he was failing. "For your own safety."

"Tell me the truth," Chris crossed his arms, as Roger looked a bit shocked. "Roger?"

He looked down guiltily. "Chris, you have to get out of here," He muttered. "Come on, it's not safe."

"It is you," His brother looked him over in shock. "You're a power ranger?"

"Yes, but we don't have time to discuss this now," Roger began to push him back towards the car. "There's..." He was cut off when a blast hit the ground near them, almost knocking them off of their feet. Roger looked over to see Chimera coming towards them and turned back to Chris. "You have to..."

He was cut off once again when a Chimera hit him in the back with a sword. He cried out and feel forward, making Chris jump back in shock. "Roger!" He yelled, kicking the Chimera back, much to the black ranger's shock.

Chris punched another down and flipped one over his head and onto the ground. Roger sat up and watched as his brother fought off the Chimera pretty well. Besides the obvious problems with this situation, Roger saw one more. Chimera continued to come closer to him, and one hit him hard, knocking him back into the car.

"No!" Roger growled as he jumped up and pulled his blaster out, shooting them all down as quickly as he could before running towards his brother, who was cradling his hand to his chest and breathing quite heavily. Roger looked him over and looked back towards the battle. "We need to get that checked out. We have to get to the hospital."

Chris shook his head, obviously in pain. "No, no, go back to the battle. I'll be..." He trailed off as he nearly fell over trying to get up. Roger caught him and walked him towards the car with a shake of his head.

"You have to get there," Roger got him into the passenger seat and demorphed as he looked back towards the battle with a sigh. He knew all of the Chimera were gone, but that didn't mean that Cal and Kay weren't in severe danger. He looked back towards the car to already see Chris beginning to doze off. "I have to." He muttered, getting into the driver's seat and taking off quickly.

Back at the battle, Kay and Cal were ducked behind that same car as the unknown being was shooting tons of darts at them.

"Where's Roger?!" Cal exclaimed, looking to Kay.

Kay shook her head. "Don't look at me! I have no idea!"

Cal sighed and grabbed her blaster from her belt. She peeked up through the car window to see the being trying to get more darts and stood up fast, blasting it. The creature was knocked out into the open to reveal Veenom, one of Terra's generals, who quickly threw a dart at Cal, hitting her in the arm.

She cried out in pain and fell back. "Cal!" Kay attempted to reach out for her when she saw Veenom had a dart pointed at her if she moved. Kay sat behind the car as she heard Veenom stand up and laugh a bit.

"Come out, little pink ranger," He hissed. "I won't hurt you too badly."

Suddenly, she heard a blast and ducked even further behind the car. When she didn't feel anything, as poked her head out to see Veenom on the ground. She frowned and stood up slowly. As she did so, she saw something shocking standing there, holding a battle axe in one hand and a blaster in the other. She stared in shock as she heard a few words uttered.

"Power of the Owl! Crimson Ranger!"

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Continued from this chapter, the crimson ranger reveals himself/herself, though seems to want to work alone rather than in a team, and it's up to Cal to convince him/her to fight alongside them when a new monster, Coyote, attacks.

 **Next chapter title:** Crimson Ranger

 **I know you guys probably don't like this cliffhanger I just left you off on, and how I'm not revealing if the crimson ranger is a guy or girl, but I want to keep it suspenseful! Sorry for all of the multi-parters lately, it's just the way I planned it.**

 **If you're not really liking that, I'm really sorry to say that the next few chapters are another part of this arc (New Rangers Arc), as well as the Fear Factor arc for the new rangers, so it'll be a while until it's just singles again.**

 **Anyways, I hope you guys liked it and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	19. Ep 17: Crimson Ranger

**Hey guys! Sorry for leaving you off on that cliffhanger, but here's the next one! Yes, there is a new ranger in this chapter, but the new opening and cover photo will not be public until Ep 19: Teal Ranger, which will be the final chapter of this three part arc. The character bio for the new ranger, however, is on the main page.**

 **One thing I also want to point out is that there is about a month in between the Fear Factor Arc and the last chapter. At this point in time, it's around February-ish in the story. If your wondering how that works, there's also a time gap between when Tanzo got on the team to when Kay did.**

 **Oh, and the new character was created by missalternativegirl, so thank you so much for your contribution! I hope you like your character!**

 **Ada is portrayed by Elizabeth Gillies**

* * *

 **Last time on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

Back at the battle, Kay and Cal were ducked behind that same car as the unknown being was shooting tons of darts at them.

"Where's Roger?!" Cal exclaimed, looking to Kay.

Kay shook her head. "Don't look at me! I have no idea!"

Cal sighed and grabbed her blaster from her belt. She peeked up through the car window to see the being trying to get more darts and stood up fast, blasting it. The creature was knocked out into the open to reveal Veenom, one of Terra's generals, who quickly threw a dart at Cal, hitting her in the arm.

She cried out in pain and fell back. "Cal!" Kay attempted to reach out for her when she saw Veenom had a dart pointed at her if she moved. Kay sat behind the car as she heard Veenom stand up and laugh a bit.

"Come out, little pink ranger," He hissed. "I won't hurt you too badly."

Suddenly, she heard a blast and ducked even further behind the car. When she didn't feel anything, as poked her head out to see Veenom on the ground. She frowned and stood up slowly. As she did so, she saw something shocking standing there, holding a battle axe in one hand and a blaster in the other. She stared in shock as she heard a few words uttered.

"Power of the Owl! Crimson Ranger!"

 **Now**

Kay stood there, stunned for a moment. She hadn't heard of another ranger from any of the others, so this was a major surprise to her. She turned to look down at Cal, who had demorphed but regained partial consciousness as she pulled the dart of out her arm weakly.

"Cal?" Kay asked, hoping she was okay enough to respond. The blue ranger rolled her head up to look at her and Kay gave her an awkward smile, even though she couldn't see her face. "Umm.. how many rangers are there exactly?"

Cal gave her a strange look. "Five.." She slurred. "Why?"

Kay gestured over the car with a nervous chuckle. "Well, now there's six,"

As Cal attempted to look around the car, Kay looked back towards the ranger, who put the blaster in the holster of her belt. This ranger had a suit like Cal and Kay's, though her suit was crimson and had the helmet design of an Owl. She also carried a battle axe, which was crimson at the hilt. Kay could see what she looked like, but she was quite a bit taller than her, standing around 5'7.

Veenom pushed himself up and looked her over with a chuckle.

"Oh, another ranger?" He smirked. "Wow, you three having a girl's day out?"

The crimson ranger rolled her eyes under her helmet. "I don't even know those two," She shook her head. "I'm more of a one woman show."

Kay and Cal frowned at this, Kay helping Cal standing against her so she could see as well. The ranger looked over to them, and stared for a moment at Cal, before turning back to Veenom, who was waiting for her to do something.

"Are you just going to stand there?" He crossed his arms. "What a good ranger you are,"

She growled under her breath and ran at him with her axe held high. As she expected, Veenom ducked so she brought her axe under at the last minute and hit him back hard, making him fly back.

Veenom held his injury with his arm and glared at her. He grabbed one of his darts when someone appeared in front of him. It was Jamie. He turned to Veenom and shook his head. "Terra requests you back. Now."

The monster almost laughed. "I'm sorry, child. I didn't know I got my orders from you."

Jamie turned to the three girls and held his hand out, blasting them all back before they could react. He then grabbed Veenom by the arm and teleported away. Kay had demorphed in the blast, having shielded Cal since she was already unmorphed.

Kay groaned and managed to get up, but she didn't know how she would get Cal back to Ranger Ops. She looked over to the crimson ranger, who had also demorphed, but was much better off.

The crimson ranger had long black hair that was covering her face, but she soon looked up at Kay. She had pale skin, blue eyes, and a hard expression on her face. She stood up, dusting herself off. She wore a crimson and black plaid shirt covering a black tank top, ripped black skinny jeans, and crimson converse.

"Hey," Kay called to her. She looked back at Kay, her expression turning defensive. "I'm sorry to bother you," Kay rolled her eyes. "But I can't carry my friend back to our base. You don't have to stay there, but I need help to get her there."

The girl looked over at Cal on the ground and stared at her for a moment once again. She nodded, still looking at Cal. "Alright."

Kay gave her a half-hearted smile. "Thanks. I'm Kennedy, by the way. You can call me Kay, though. This is Callie, but we call her Cal."

She chuckled a bit as she knelt down next to Cal, seemingly amused. "I'm Adelaide, but I go by Ada,"

Ada picked up Cal in a bridal carry, the girl once again unconscious. Ada shifted her to make sure she was alright before they were teleported away.

 **~Cue Opening 2~**

Roger sat anxiously in the waiting room, hoping for any information on Chris. While he waited, however, he couldn't help feeling a pit in his stomach as he thought about how he left Cal and Kay alone without telling them. Unfortunately, he could call them on the communicators due to the problems in the devices in the area they were in.

He looked up at the TV, where news reporters were standing in the area of the fight, now unoccupied. The headline read, much to Roger's shock, ' **New Power Ranger?** ' The reporter began to talk. _"I'm reporting here from the scene of the latest Power Ranger battle, where it was reported by witnesses that there is a new ranger on the team. Witnesses state seeing a female, dark red, or crimson, ranger appearing after multiple of the rangers were taken down by a monster. The identities of any of the rangers still remains a mystery. This is Duncan Matthews, Welch County News."_

Roger frowned. A crimson ranger? He hadn't met any new rangers since Tanzo and Kay joined the team. Well, he did know of the fact that there were three other rangers out there, but it was still surprising to hear.

"Family of Chris Deekins?" Moriko Tachibana, the surgeon who had handle Chris before, came out, and Roger immediately stood up and walked over to her. "He sustained a minor fracture to his wrist, for which we gave him a cast. As for his heart..." She pulled Roger to the side and sat down with him. "Fending off even a few of those monsters has made a large difference in the time he has before he potentially has a heart attack."

Roger took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, so what does that mean?"

She sighed. "Unfortunately, we prioritize surgery based on the severity of the condition. While his condition is serious, we have patients that have to stay in the hospital because of how bad it can be, and they are our first and main priority. We're monitoring him now, but once he's stable, we're sending him home. I believe his surgery can be scheduled for around 2 months from now, for the next time we have open for patients similar to him."

"Two months?" Roger exclaimed. "He could die before then!"

Moriko put a hand up to calm him down. "I'm sorry, it's the soonest we can get him in. And, though I can't promise you anything, I can tell you that the regime we're planning should keep him healthy enough until surgery."

"Are you sure?" Roger crossed his arms.

"As sure as we can be," Moriko nodded. "We'll be sending him up to be checked out within a few hours. You should go take a walk to calm down. We'll call you when he's ready."

Roger sighed and nodded.

~PRAG~

Ada stood awkwardly outside of the infirmary in Ranger Ops as Kay stood next to her, waiting for news on the other rangers. Just then, Roger walked in, looking stressed and exhausted, but Kay was right on his case.

"Where the hell were you?!" Kay exclaimed. "You left us there! We could have died! Some second-in-command you are!"

Roger growled. "I had to get my brother to safety! He could've died! I mean, he's in the hospital right now! What do you want me to say?"

Kay shook her head at him. "Look, I get it, you know. He's your family, but we're power rangers, Roger. All of us need to start learning that we can't put the lives of one over the lives of many, no matter who it is."

He stared at her like she was crazy. "Really? So if one of your family members was in danger you would care more about strangers than them?" Kay didn't respond. "Okay, then. That's what I thought. And, besides, I know that. It's just.. when you see someone you love in danger, it doesn't matter what else is going on. You have to do something if you can." After a moment of silence, Roger looked over to see Ada still standing there, watching their conversation with a raised eyebrow. "Hello? Who are you?"

"This is Ada," Kay told him. "A ranger, like us. Same suit and everything."

"You're the crimson ranger," Roger nodded. "I heard about you on TV. I'm Roger, the black ranger."

Ada shook his hand awkwardly. "Nice to meet you," She muttered, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. "I don't really think I should be here. I can just let myself out."

Before she could do anything, however, Vi and Maya walked into the room and paused when they saw her. "You," Maya pointed at her. "You're the ranger that threatened us that day in woods! Why the hell are you here?!"

"I was just leaving, so don't worry about it." Ada crossed her arms over her chest.

She tried to leave, but Kay stepped in front of her. "You threatened them? And why, exactly, would you do that?"

"Because they won't leave me alone," Ada growled. "I was living fine on my own, and I found out I could be a ranger. Help people. I, obviously, said yes because I like helping people, but after that, Alicia, Ben and these two have been coming after me to join the team since. I just wanna work alone."

Pushing past Kay, Ada escaped Ranger Ops before anyone else could stop her. Just as she did so, the other rangers came out of the infirmary. They were a bit pale, but they seemed fine otherwise.

"Thank god Alicia came up with that antidote," Geo sighed. "She said her old rangers had to wait it out for like a day or two."

"I know," Tanzo chuckled. "I couldn't have waited that long."

Cal ignored them and looked to Kay and Roger. "Where's the crimson ranger?"

Kay chuckled awkwardly. "Her name is Ada, and she left. I'm sorry."

Cal frowned. "But she helped us. Saved us. How could she just leave?"

"She said she wanted to work alone," Vi responded. "Someone has to talk to her. Cal, maybe you should. She goes to our school, so it shouldn't be that hard to find her."

She nodded. "I'll try to find her, but for now we should probably all go home. It's getting late, and people are probably wondering where we are,"

The rangers all seemed to agree and fanned out one by one. Meanwhile, Alicia peeked her head out of the infirmary to make sure no one was there before looking back down at the device in hand. It was a pregnancy test, and it read positive.

~PRAG~

Geo got back home to see Noah gone and his mother waiting for him in the kitchen. He walked awkwardly past her towards the fridge and pulled out a water bottle as she pushed a plate of food across the island towards him. He took it quietly and grabbed a chair to sit across from her.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Ashley looked up at him, confused. "I thought you could tell me anything, Geo."

He avoided his mother's gaze. "Well, I wanted to. It's just.. I was nervous about how you would react. I care a lot about what you think of me, mom, and I was worried you'd be disappointed or something."

She sighed. "Geo, I'm not upset or anything. I'm happy you told me. I'm happy that you finally feel okay about being open about this. Whoever you choose to date, I'll be okay with it. I mean, I'd love to meet them."

"Well, there's no one yet." Geo chuckled. "But I'm glad that you're okay with it, mom."

Ashley nodded. "Of course. There's nothing wrong it to begin with."

"Speaking of things being wrong," Geo took a bite of his food. "Where's Noah?"

"He went home. He was a bit upset at how this is turning out in terms of our relationship," Ashley sighed. "I don't know, Geo. I don't think I can do this. It's too hard to have a relationship with everything going on."

Geo frowned. He thought his mother really liked Noah. "Are you just saying this because I don't like him?"

"No, there's just a lot to consider." She crossed her arms. "I just need time to think about it."

Ashley got up and left the room, leaving Geo alone. He sighed, guessing she wasn't comfortable with knowing how he felt about Noah, despite how she fought against his thoughts earlier. She tried hard to get him to change his mind and in the end, had to change her own.

Geo didn't like doing things like that to his mother. She really deserved to have everything she wanted, but he couldn't help but feel protective because of what he saw in the dream. It may not have been true, but he still struggled with the thought that it might actually be that way behind closed doors.

Then again, anyone could be that way. What if Noah was a good guy and Ashley decided not to give him a chance? Then, she could go out and meet someone who wasn't good. Someone who would hurt her.

He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. _What should I do? Should I tell her I'm fine with it or not?_

~PRAG~

Roger drove himself and Chris home. His brother sat in the passenger seat, reading over the strict regime the doctors had planned for him to follow to make sure he'd be fine until surgery.

Roger couldn't help glancing over every few moments, watching him frown at a few things he was reading.

"Shouldn't you be watching the road?" Chris asked after a few moments, looking up at Roger out of the corner of his eye.

He chuckled awkwardly. "I am. Uh.. just wondering, what does it say?"

Chris sighed. "Mostly stuff about bed rest and certain foods I should eat. The usual stuff." He then looked fully over at him. "So, are we gonna talk about it or not?"

"Talk about what?" Roger asked, frowning.

Chris rolled his eyes. "About you being a power ranger," He said, making Roger's eyes widen in realization. He had forgotten Chris saw him and knew now.

"Oh yeah, I'm a ranger." He shrugged. "I have been for a while. It's cool protecting people and stuff. It's really rewarding, you know?"

"It's pretty dangerous, Roger. You guys must get hurt."

Roger nodded. "Oh, yeah. That's one of the not so good parts about it."

"What position are you in?" He asked, looking curiously at his morpher. "I noticed you were the black ranger."

Roger gave a nervous smile. "Oh, I'm second-in-command. Geo, my friend, is the leader. I'm only leader when he's out."

Chris frowned. "Why? Are you not good enough to be the leader? I mean, you're smart and probably a good ranger. There's no reason you shouldn't be."

"Well, it wasn't my decision." Roger muttered. He knew what Chris meant when he said stuff like that, but he couldn't help but find himself a bit irritated at how he thought he had to be perfect for everything. Well, he also knew that this was mostly because of pressure his parents put on them, but it still wasn't that good of an excuse. "Besides, I don't really mind it anymore. I'm not the leader because someone else is better, and I don't have a problem with that. And, don't you need to be a follower to become a leader?"

"How, exactly, are you going to become the leader? Once you defeat the monsters, it's over. You're never going to be a leader."

"Maybe I will one day," Roger felt himself getting defensive. "This is good practice for a job one day or something."

Chris shrugged. "I guess."

Roger continued driving, ignoring anything else his brother was saying. He realized a while ago that he wasn't fit to be the leader, and it wasn't his decision whether or not he should be or not. Then again, it made him feel like a bit of a failure to be pushed back the way he was.

He shook his head, trying to remove that thought from his mind and focused on getting home.

~PRAG~

The next day, Cal made it a point to find Ada, and she did relatively quickly when she realized that the girl that always sat in the back of her cooking class, working by herself, was Ada. Luckily for Cal, the teacher decided for Ada to sit up closer, and since Cal's partner had moved away, the older girl was seated next to her.

Cal smiled at her as she sat down, but Ada was trying to avoid her gaze. "Hey, Ada," She greeted after the teacher gave them an assignment to start on the pie they were cooking that day. "I don't know if you officially know me, so I'm Callie."

"But I can call you Cal," Ada nodded. "Kay told me while I carried you back to Ranger Ops." She began to get the ingredients ready, not letting Cal really do much. "Look, no offense, but I prefer to work alone. I'm sure you're a great person and all, but I'm not really about teamwork and stuff."

Cal looked her over and stared for a few moments. "You're Ms. Danielson," She whispered to herself, but loud enough for Ada to hear her. "You were in my dream. Do you remember?" At Ada's silence, and halted working, Cal assumed she did. "Why.. didn't you say anything? I mean, you know who I am."

Ada crossed her arms uncomfortably. "No, I don't. A future, dreaming version of me did. I don't know anything about you."

Cal sighed and closed her eyes, remembering everything she knew about Ada. "But, you do. I remember stuff about you that I couldn't know unless I knew you. You're so kind, and you cared so much about me... We were married." She said, hushed down a bit.

"I know that," Ada looked down. "Look, you're a sweet person, and you are very beautiful, but that's all I know about you. Plus, besides that, what's the point of this? You're not even trying to get on the team or anything."

"I shouldn't have to," Cal said, frowning. "As a ranger, you should already know that this is a team effort. You can't save the world on your own. You just have to realize that."

Cal grabbed some of the ingredients and began following the instructions while Ada sighed. Being on her own was easier, and it meant that she couldn't let anyone else down. Then again, what was she doing by not joining the team? She was letting down the rangers, Cal especially.

Truth be told, Ada remembered everything from that dream, and she almost missed the experience. She didn't know Cal was a real person, and never thought she would ever be actually meeting her and being around her.

It felt normal, even if she didn't really 'officially' know that much about her. She felt like this was the way her life was supposed to go. Ada looked back over at Cal, and got a small smile on her face.

~PRAG~

After school, Kay was about to walk to pick up Hunter from his school when she felt someone touch her arm. She looked up to see Nate standing there with a smile on his face.

"Hey, you coming to help?" He asked. "Don't we have tutoring today?"

Kay tapped her head. "Oh, I'm sorry, I totally forgot. I told my mom I'd go pick up my little brother from school."

Nate nodded in understanding. "It's cool. I get it. How about I come with and we can have a tutoring session at your house or the park or something?"

She thought about it for a moment. She felt a bit awkward, having seen Nate but was unaware if he saw her. Of course she couldn't ask him if he did, because if he didn't then she would reveal her identity, but if he was, he wasn't telling her, which might not be good. If he knew, why wouldn't he be telling her? Was he working for Terra or someone?

No, he couldn't be. He probably just didn't see her, right? Yeah, that's it. He didn't see her.

"Are you sure?" She asked, rubbing her arm sheepishly.

He smiled. "Of course," He gestured ahead. "Let's go."

~PRAG~

Tanzo and Cal were walking together after school, planning on going to Ben's boxing studio to train with Maya and Vi. While they walked, Cal was telling him about her failure to get Ada to join the team.

"She said she likes working alone, and that's what she's going to do I guess," Cal sighed. "I don't know what to do with her. I mean, I guess she can help us on her own but I don't know how well that'll work out."

Tanzo shrugged. "Just look at the bright side - we have a new ranger, whether she'll admit it or not. We have more help to deal with the Animali. Isn't that what matters?"

"I guess," Cal muttered. "I still think she should officially join. It's not good when there's a lack of communication or conflict. It can cause problems and get other people hurt."

He nodded. "That's true, but there's nothing we can do. She has to make her own choice. We just have to hope that it's the right one," He chuckled. "I think she'll come around.

Cal looked towards him. "You think?"

Tanzo smiled. "Oh yeah. If she wants to do the right thing, she definitely will."

As they were walking past Carlyle's diner, a blast at their feet threw them back. Although shocked and winded, they looked up through the smoke to see a new monster with Chimera as other students around them fled the scene.

The two got back to their feet and glared at the alien.

"Who are you?" Cal demanded, getting into a fighting stance with Tanzo.

The alien made a strange sound, halfway between a howl and a laugh. "I am the powerful Coyote. I may look small, but I pack a punch!" Then, Coyote gestured at them, "Chimera, attack!"

~PRAG~

Geo and Roger were at Ben's boxing studio, sparring while Maya watched. She observed their forms, and made sure they were doing their best against each other. Currently, she could see both boys doing mostly their best, but it was obvious they were both distracted.

Maya climbed into the ring and held her hands up in a sign for them to stop while she shook her head. "Okay, hold up. What's going on with you two?"

"What do you mean?" Geo crossed his arms across his chest, clearly trying to avoid this conversation.

She rolled her eyes. "You're both distracted. You," She gestured to Geo, "Are fighting like you don't know where you're opponent is, and you," She gestured to Roger, "Are obviously holding back, even more than you're supposed to in sparring. What's going on?"

Geo sighed. "Well, my mom is dating this guy, Noah." At the looks on their faces, he continued. "He's my dad. The same dad that ran out on us years ago. She said he's changed, and I want to believe it for her, but I don't trust him. There's a reason he left, and maybe he shouldn't be back."

Maya nodded. "Okay, what are you gonna do about it?"

"I guess I should let her do what she thinks is right." Geo said, pursing his lips. "I should trust her judgement."

Maya smiled. "Good, now, Roger, what's..."

"Guys!" Maya was cut off when Vi ran into the room, holding her tablet in hand. "Cal and Tanzo are getting attacked outside of Carlyle's diner. I'll get Kay, but you should go."

"On it," Geo nodded as the two jumped over the ring's barrier and ran out.

Vi gestured out of the boxing studio. "You wanna come?"

Maya shook her head. "No, I should stay here in case Ben or someone shows up."

"Alright,"

Vi exited the studio and ran towards Kay's signal. From surveillance cameras in the area, Vi could see Kay with Nate, which meant she had to come up with a reason for Kay to leave, and she thought it would be easiest if she showed up and asked her to help her.

Running as fast as she could, she saw Kay standing at the park, actually quite close to Nate, who was laughing along with her while Kay's brother played on the playground.

She felt bad for interrupting, but it had to be done. She ran up to Kay, though the two had already turned when they heard footsteps behind them.

"Vi?" Kay asked, frowning in confusion.

Vi smiled awkwardly. "Umm.. sorry, to interrupt, but there's an emergency at the boxing studio. The other.. students are injured. Can you come to help? It won't be too long," Vi grabbed her wrist, pressing her morpher down so she could feel it and knew what she meant.

Realization dawned on Kay's face and nodded. "Oh yeah, I'll be there," She turned to Nate. "I have to go help. Can you stay here and watch Hunter?"

"Yeah, sure."

Before he could say anything else, the two took off in a sprint, Vi directing her where to go, letting her run off while Vi ended up walking once they got around the corner.

~PRAG~

Getting to the scene of the battle, Kay was almost taken aback by the damage already done to the area. Cars were ruined, windows broken, and there were also injured people around. The bodies of the Chimera disappeared from the ground, though there were sometimes small parts or dents in the ground to remind them there was one there.

Kay quickly morphed in the shadows, avoiding any of the injured civilians seeing her before running out and kicking a Chimera down that was about to blast a woman trying to get away. Kay grabbed the woman and helped her run to the side so she could get away before running back over.

In the midst of the battle, Tanzo broke away from his Chimera fight, which was really draining him of energy, to attack Coyote, who was watching the battle with a smirk on his face. Running up, he slashed his sword at Coyote, who jumped back just in time to avoid being hit.

He looked at the yellow ranger, who held his sword out threateningly at the monster, and laughed. "You think you can beat me?" Coyote howled and charged at Tanzo, knocking him off of his feet. As he tried to get back up, Coyote turned down and grabbed ahold of Tanzo's shoulder with his mouth and shook him around like a rag-doll.

"Tanzo!" Kay cried, flipping over the monster and kicking it in the head on the way done, making it throw Tanzo towards an already destroyed car and causing him to demorph.

Coyote rolled his eyes at her. "You're no better than he is." Coyote grabbed Tanzo's sword, which he had dropped in the attack and pointed it at her. She pulled out her own sword and clashed against his. He pushed down hard, making her lean back, trying to hold her own.

Eventually, he brought the sword back up and slammed it down hard on her's, making her slam into the ground hard enough to create shock waves around her. He kicked her to the side as she demorphed.

"Kay!" Geo launched himself over the final group of Chimera, who Roger and Cal were handling, but before he could even touch the ground, Coyote punched upwards, throwing him back towards Carlyle's diner, where he flew through the window and demorphed upon impact.

Roger growled and ran at Coyote next, blasting him a few times before kicking at him. Coyote grabbed his foot and spun him around before throwing him off to the side and into the top of a tree, where he fell fifteen feet before hitting the ground and demorphing.

Cal defeated the last Chimera and pulled out her blaster, pointing it at Coyote as he laughed at her. "You think that puny device can hurt me? You already saw what happened to your friends," Coyote walked forward and smacked the blaster out of her hands as she attempted to shoot at him. He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off of her feet, despite her protests. "Now, let's see what happens to you."

Ada was watching from behind a building, wondering if she should step in. Up until the other day, she had only fought alone and against simple monsters, even though her power could defeat much more.

Seeing Cal getting attacked like she was, however, angered her deeply. She growled and pressed down on her pendant, letting her blaster appear in her hand.

"Any last words?" Coyote laughed. "Oh yeah, you can't speak."

Suddenly, a blast hit him from behind. He hissed in pain and turned his head, still holding Cal by the throat. Running out of air, she was beginning to struggle less. When he turned, he saw Ada, unmorphed, standing there with her blaster in hand.

He chuckled. "And who are you?"

She pulled her pendant off of her neck and put it into her morpher. "Animal Guardians, Arise!" She called. Crimson dust began to surround her body, up until her whole body was covered. The dust fell away, revealing her ranger suit once more. "Power of the Owl!"

Coyote seemed intrigued and dropped threw Cal to the ground, already having demorphed and was only half-conscious. "So, you're the new crimson ranger I've heard about. I figured you were just a rumor."

Ada smirked under her helmet. "Not even close."

She pulled out her axe and ran forward. Coyote grabbed Tanzo's sword once more, but Ada's axe hit his arm, making a large gash and causing him to drop the sword in shock. She rammed the opposite end into the side of his head before slamming it flatly down on the top of his head and making him fall to the ground.

Ada grabbed him by the fur on his shoulder and pulled him up. "I may have been stubborn earlier about this whole thing, but..." She looked past him at Cal, who had mostly regained her bearings and looked up at her, still rubbing her neck in pain. "This is my team, and if you hurt any of them, you have to learn a lesson. Luckily for you, you're the first who gets to learn it."

Stepping back, Ada pulled her axe down and quickly slammed it upwards, knocking Coyote into the air. Then, she quickly pulled out her blaster and blasted him back even farther, making him explode upon impact.

She demorphed before running over and helping Cal stand up, who quickly engulfed her in a hug. "You saved us," She whispered breathlessly into her shoulder. "I knew you would."

The other rangers also stood, groaning from their injuries, but coming over to welcome the newest member to their team. Roger was a bit quieter than usual, though no one noticed.

From the shadows, a silver figure watched them. He saw them cheering for the end of the battle, then running off before the emergency responders got there to keep their identities in track. His eye mostly caught on Kay before they all disappeared down the street.

He nodded, deciding what he was going to do before walking off.

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Since the rangers gained a new ranger, Terra decides to send Veenom back to take out the rangers one by one. When Kay becomes the only one left that hasn't been attacked, the silver ranger reveals himself to help. Meanwhile, Ada and Cal become close, as do Nate and Kay.

 **Next chapter title:** Silver Ranger

 **If you're wondering about certain plots that didn't get a finish yet, don't worry because they will. This arc can act as stand alone chapters, but I feel more like it's a three parter with the new rangers coming in and everything. I also know that this ending is somewhat similar to the last one, but th next chapter will be different, and will have a different type of ending as build up for the new ranger.**

 **Also, after this arc (and probably after the finishers to the Fear Factor arc), the old rangers will be making more appearances. Of course, I will have a chapter or two between this arc and the end of that one (and before the Final arc), just so that you guys can get to know the final ranger just a bit. I don't want to introduce him and then throw him into a character change chapter.**

 **Anyways, I hope you guys liked this and I'll be back with my next chapter after the next one of Guardians of the Galaxy.**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	20. Ep 18: Silver Ranger

**Hey guys, here's the next big reveal! Like I said in the last chapter, the new cover video and photo should be out with the next chapter, but this character bio is now in the first chapter.**

 **This character was created by the great ICrzy, who also created Maya, and is a really good writer! Check her stuff out sometime!**

* * *

 **Last time on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

Stepping back, Ada pulled her axe down and quickly slammed it upwards, knocking Coyote into the air. Then, she quickly pulled out her blaster and blasted him back even farther, making him explode upon impact.

She demorphed before running over and helping Cal stand up, who quickly engulfed her in a hug. "You saved us," She whispered breathlessly into her shoulder. "I knew you would."

The other rangers also stood, groaning from their injuries, but coming over to welcome the newest member to their team. Roger was a bit quieter than usual, though no one noticed.

From the shadows, a silver figure watched them. He saw them cheering for the end of the battle, then running off before the emergency responders got there to keep their identities in track. His eye mostly caught on Kay before they all disappeared down the street.

He nodded, deciding what he was going to do before walking off.

 **Now**

Cal and Ada sat in cooking class, listening to the teacher's instructions to make cinnamon rolls, before she told them to get a partner. Neither Cal nor Ada were close to anyone else in the class, so they quickly decided to work together.

Ada was still a bit on the fence about working with others, and it was almost painfully obvious in the way she took the instructions and tried to do everything as quickly as she could to avoid letting Cal do anything.

Cal didn't take it personal - she came to realize in the week Ada had been on the team that that's just the way she was, and Cal was fine with that.

Despite that little detail, Cal and Ada had actually been getting quite close. They had been hanging out at lunch, sparring together, even though Cal was usually Kay's partner, and had just been getting to know each other.

"Hey," Ada said, causing Cal to look up from the dough she was making. "Do you think all of the others like me? I feel Like Tanzo and Kay are fine, but Geo and Roger seem a bit distant."

Cal shrugged. "Well, they've both been a bit distracted. Geo's trying to find his dad to get back with his mom, and Roger's brother has to get surgery, so I wouldn't take it personally. I get your worry, though; I worry about a lot of the same stuff all of the time."

Ada looked at her. "Really?"

She nodded. "Oh yeah. I have pretty bad social anxiety, so, sometimes, that's pretty much all I think about."

"I never would've guessed," Ada looked her over. "You know, I have it too. Not so much social, but just in general."

"No way," Cal was shocked. She had never really met anyone else who she knew had anxiety, though her mother had tried to introduce her in hopes of getting support for it. "You don't seem like it at all, either."

Ada chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I've learned more or less how to control it. It was pretty hard, but I just always told myself how unreasonable my worries and fears were, and, eventually, it began to help. Not saying that would help with everyone, but it definitely works for me."

Cal was silent for a few moments, before looking back up at Ada. "So, are you busy after school?"

"What?" Ada looked over from her task quickly. "Uhh.. no, why?"

Cal fumbled with her words a bit. "W.. well, I was umm.. thinking maybe we could go to Carlyle's. As.. as friends, of course."

Ada smiled, a bit amused, seeing what Cal was trying to do. "Are you trying to ask me out and play it off as a friendship invitation?"

She cringed with a nervous chuckle. "Is it that obvious?"

"Painfully so,"

"Oh," Cal played with her hair awkwardly. "Well, I know we haven't really been hanging out for too long, and it's a bit quick to ask, but I just figured because in that dream.. thing that maybe you would want to. Maybe I'm just looking too much into it but I..."

Ada cut her off. "I'll meet you in front of the school."

Cal smiled brightly. "Okay, I'll see you there, then."

 **~Cue Opening 2~**

Terra sat in her throne, watching replays of her monsters failing over and over again. She noticed, however, that Veenom had, so far, the best success, only being taken back when a new ranger, who they didn't know of, showed up. If he knew about her, he could have taken down all of them, potentially.

"Veenom!" She demanded, and the large monster came into the room, holding his scythe in hand and his poison darts on his shoulder in a new gun.

He bowed slightly to her. "Terra," He addressed. "How can I be of service to you?"

Terra gestured to the screen. "You could have won if you knew of this ranger, yes?"

"Of course,"

"Then go down to Earth and take the rangers out. One by one." Terra ordered.

"No problem, my queen," Veenom bowed once more before exiting the throne room.

After he left, Terra stood and walked over to the prison cells, where Julie and Riana sat dejectedly. As she approached, Riana stood and walked up to the bars of the cell.

"Let me guess; the power rangers are beating you?" Riana crossed her arms.

Terra chuckled. "They may think that, but not for long. I just thought you should know that Veenom is going down to Earth to take them out. Once they're gone, I'm going to kill you both,"

Julie rolled her eyes. "If you really wanted to kill us, why haven't you done it already? I mean, you honestly have no use for us." She stood up and walked forwards to stand next to Riana. "If anything, you're going soft. I don't think you really know why you're even trying to destroy Earth. You must remember being good, and you should know that this is about as normal as one of us turning evil." She gestured to herself and Riana. "You're just blindly following that stupid little implant in your head from Terrible."

Terra glared at her and grabbed her through the bars. "Never doubt me, Julie. You'll never win that one." Terra threw her back and stormed off.

A bit away, Valcon listened in on their conversation. He completely agreed with his daughter, and knew that something had to be done about Terra before they were all destroyed by the rangers.

~PRAG~

In class, Roger and Maya sat in the back, looking over their history questions given to them by their teacher, who was now browsing the internet with no interest for his students.

Maya was doing her work rather diligently, but when she glanced over to Roger to ask him what he got for a certain question, she noticed how unfocused he seemed.

"Okay, what's wrong?" She asked, crossing her arms as Roger looked up at her, a bit startled by her question.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong?" Maya repeated. As Roger opened his mouth to respond, Maya cut him off. "Don't even tell me nothing, because it's pretty obvious. Just say it."

Roger sighed. "Remember when I thought I should be the leader?" When Maya gave him a strange look, he continued, "Okay, so you weren't here for that, but I did, and I got over it. Now, my brother found out I was a ranger, and when I told him I was second-in-command, he acted like that was a bad thing. Like I _have_ to be the leader to be a good ranger, you know?"

Maya frowned. "Does he always pressure you like that?"

"I wouldn't call it pressuring, necessarily," Roger rubbed his arm uncomfortably. "He just thinks I should be the best, or else I'm.. well, not."

"So, pressuring, then?"

Roger looked down at the table, before looking back up at her. "I guess,"

"What are you gonna do about it?" Maya asked. "You gonna tell him to stop?"

He made a face. "Well... I mean, I don't know if I should, you know,"

Maya sighed. "Roger, I think he'll appreciate the honesty. Besides, if you keep beating yourself up over this, you're never going to be able to really get along with him because you're always going to resent the way he does that."

Roger tapped his fingers on the table. "What if he dies, and the last thing he remembers of me is me telling him off for doing that?"

"I think it would be better than all you remembering about him is the way he always pressured you to do things you don't necessarily want to do or care about. You wanna remember the good times, but, if you don't say anything, how do you know that that won't overpower all of the good things you remember until you secretly hate him for that."

He had a, practically, pained look on his face. "You think?"

"I do," Maya nodded. "Just think about it, and, if you go about it the right way, nothing bad will happen."

~PRAG~

After school, Kay sat in the tutoring center, waiting for Nate. The boy showed up a few moments later, carrying a test he took in hand, putting it on the table as he sat down and put his backpack on the floor.

Kay smiled. "Okay, what'd you get?"

Nate made a face, "Well, it's not good,"

She frowned. "I'm sorry. It's okay - we can work even more and get way better next time."

"Actually," Nate smirked. "It's great." He turned it over, breaking into a smile when Kay's eyes widened at the B+.

Kay leaned forwards and engulfed him into a hug. "That's so great! I'm so proud of you!"

"All thanks to you," He hugged her back.

"Not even," Kay pulled away awkwardly, after the hug lasted for a bit longer than she realized. "It was all you," She said, looking away almost shyly.

"Did I do something wrong, Kay?" He frowned, noticing her sudden change in expression.

Kay shook her head. "No, it's just.. that hug..." She trailed off.

"Was there something wrong with it?" Nate leaned down to look in her eyes. "I liked it, but if you didn't we don't have to do that. Nothing you're not comfortable with. We could just have a working-type relationship."

She sighed. "No, I liked it too, but.. I don't know what you're looking for right now. I mean, you've been really nice to me, and offer to walk me home, and.. stuff like that happens where I find myself lost when I get too close to you. I don't know what to do."

Nate nodded. "I understand. You know, I only do that because I like you, not because I'm trying to take advantage of you or anything. I wouldn't do anything you felt uncomfortable with. I really like you."

"But, you barely know me," Kay looked away.

He had his hand on the table near her's a lightly moved so their hands were just touching. She didn't move from the advance. "That's not true. We've been hanging out and talking and I know enough about you. I thought you liked me too."

"Well, I mean, I do.. but, I don't know, Nate. I've never gotten close enough to someone else to actually consider something like this." Kay rubbed her arm almost uncomfortably. "It's really not that I don't like you, it's just complicated, you know? I've never opened myself up to someone like that before."

"I totally understand," Nate smiled. "I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, Kay."

Kay looked up at him from her gaze at the table. "I don't understand. I mean, most guys would be all over it and wouldn't leave it alone."

"I know what you're talking about," Nate shook his head. "People - guys, or girls - are not objects people can just claim. It has to be a two-way street, or else it's not one at all. If you feel uncomfortable, or you don't like something we're talking about, or whatever, it won't happen, because people deserve to be respected like that."

She moved her hand nervously until it was over his, and she felt good when it was. "I'm sorry, Nate. I totally stereotyped you, and that's not right of me. I guess it's just me being my distrustful self, even though you've given me no reason to act like that. I would actually like to hang out sometime, if you want."

Nate nodded. "I would love to, but I think we should start slow. Maybe I'll just walk you home."

~PRAG~

Tanzo was at Ben's boxing studio with Vi, who was watching him with a frown. He seemed a bit off, and he was sweating much more than he usually was.

"Are you okay?" She asked, putting her tablet down and walking over to stop him from punching the bag.

He gestured to his back. "I don't know. Something hurts," He chuckled humorlessly as she took a look, surprised to see a small dart-like object sticking out of his back.

Vi touched it lightly, causing it to fall out. As it did so, the skin around the small pinprick began to turn an ink black color and spread outwards. "What the hell?" Vi knelt down to pick up the dart as Tanzo swayed slightly on his feet.

Ben came out of the back to see what was going on, and saw how suddenly Tanzo had paled. Ben walked over and put a hand on the yellow ranger's shoulder as he looked up sluggishly.

"Tanzo, you good?" Ben put his other hand on Tanzo's other shoulder to hold him still as he once again swayed on his feet.

Tanzo didn't respond, so Ben led him over to the bench to sit down before walking back over to Vi, who looked up at him with a worried look on her face.

"This is one of Veenom's darts. He was back, and no one noticed." Vi shook her head as she placed the dart in Ben's hand to let him see it. "This isn't good. If he can hide from our sensors, he could go after the others without anyone noticing."

"But, he's been here for a while," Ben said, putting the dart in his pocket to give to Alicia to extract the rest of the poison from. "I know Veenom hasn't been here."

"He had to have shot Tanzo before he got here then," Vi responded. "I mean, he was really only affected when I accidentally knocked the dart out. We have to warn the others." Vi took out her own communicator, and tried to press down to get even one of the others, but all she heard was static. "Geo? Roger? Cal? Kay? Ada? Come on, anyone?"

Ben walked over and hoisted Tanzo up over his shoulder. "We have to get to Ranger Ops. Now."

~PRAG~

Cal and Ada sat in Carlyle's Diner, laughing, talking, and eating. Ada was having a club sandwich with french fries on the side, and Cal was eating pancakes with strawberry toppings and syrup.

Ada chuckled. "I still don't know how you can eat pancakes for almost dinner. Pancakes are a breakfast food."

"I disagree completely," Cal scooped a bite into her mouth. "Breakfast is just a label for a certain time of the day. I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want."

"I guess it _is_ a free country," Ada put her hand up as she used the other to put a french fry in her mouth. She looked Cal over for a few moments before smiling at her. "You know, I'm having a really good time, Cal."

Cal smiled back. "Me too." Suddenly, Cal's face contorted in pain and she reached up and practically smacked the side of her neck.

"What's wrong?" Ada leaned forward a bit, but then felt a strange and painful prick in her upper arm. She lifted her hand to touch it and looked over to see a small dart sticking out of her arm. She looked towards Cal, who was about to pull it out. "Don't," She warned. "We need to get to Ranger Ops."

"What is it?" Cal asked, pulling her hand carefully away from her neck.

Ada gestured to the dart in her own arm. "Veenom. The poison activates extremely quick if we take it out." She pulled some money out of her pocket and slapped it down on the table before pulling Cal with her out of the diner. "With him around we won't be able to teleport."

Cal looked over at her as they walked in the direction of Ranger Ops. "How do you know that?"

"I've had a run-in with him before,"

 _~Flashback~_

 _Ada stood in front of Veenom, who was smiling evilly at her. Behind her was a 15 year old girl with brown hair, blue eyes, and pale skin similar to Ada. She was unconscious on the ground with a black mark on her neck that was slowly creeping across her skin._

 _"Pathetic human," Veenom spat. "Protecting each other." He shook his head. "Like I said, pathetic."  
_

 _Ada growled under her breath. "I'm going to kill you," She hissed. "By the way, it's called love. She's my sister, and I'll always protect her, which is always why I'm going to kill you."_

 _"You'll never beat me,"_

 _Ada's sister, Kassidy, groaned from the floor behind her as Ada heard footsteps behind her. Glance behind her for only a moment, she saw her older brother TJ sneaking behind her to grab Kassidy. TJ had pale skin and blue eyes to match both of his sisters, but had light brown hair and was quite tall compared to them, standing at at least over 6 feet._

 _Being as he was so tall, even when he was crouched down he was still very noticeable to Ada, and Veenom. Veenom readied a dart when Ada finally pulled out her pendant and held it towards him, distracting the monster immediately._

 _"A ranger?" Veenom stared in shock, unaware that there were anymore rangers than he already knew of. "Impossible,"_

 _Ada bit her lip as she turned back to TJ standing there with Kassidy gathered in his arms, watching her. They didn't know she was a ranger, and she never planned on telling either of them, but she had to do something._

 _She shoved the pendant inside of her morpher and watched it get sucked in. "Animal Guardians, Arise!" She called as crimson dust began to surround her body, forming her suit. "Power of the Owl!"  
_

 _From behind her, she could almost see TJ's look of shock, but she quickly heard him begin to back away until see couldn't hear his footsteps anymore._

 _Veenom tried to shoot a dart at her but she put up her axe to defend herself from it. "So, Veenom," Ada held her axe at her side. "What now?"_

 _~End of Flashback~_

"What happened after that?" Cal asked as they were almost at Ranger Ops.

Ada shrugged. "I got rid of him. He shed his skin and disappeared. I almost thought he was dead, but when I heard he was attacking again, I had to come over. He's highly dangerous, and he almost killed my sister."

Cal pursed her lips. "Ada, he's never gonna beat us, I promise. We'll take him down - together. If that's okay."

Approaching Ranger Ops, Ada faced Cal and gave her a small smile. "That's great."

As they got there, they saw Roger limping towards them with Maya next to him shaking her head. "Why didn't you say you got hit by Veenom?" She muttered.

"I didn't know." Roger said through gritted teeth as Maya held the dart in his shoulder.

Maya saw the two and sighed. "Come on, let's go in. Alicia can fix this."

~PRAG~

Geo, earlier, had Vi track Noah's cell phone number after getting it off of his mother's phone when she was sleeping. He tracked him to a small apartment building, and ask the manager where he was. The manager told him the number and he walked up the stairs to get to the door.

When he arrived, he knocked nervously on the door. "Noah?" He called. "You in there?" He knocked again.

There was a sound and he heard someone come to the door. The door opened and a woman peeked through. Geo was about to get angry, but he noticed a strange tattoo on her neck and became more suspicious and worried about where Noah was rather than thinking he was cheating.

"Who are you?" The woman looked him up and down with a look of almost disgust.

"This is my father's apartment," Geo crossed his arms as the woman got a bit of a shocked look on her face. "Who are you?"

Suddenly, the woman bolted away from the door, allowing it to swing open with the force. Geo saw her hop out of the window and onto the fire escape as he then looked down in shock to see Noah on the floor with a needle in his arm and was bleeding from a gash in his head.

"Oh my god," Geo grabbed his phone and immediately called 911 just as his morpher beeped. He quickly talked to the police before hanging up and pressing the button on his morpher. "Yeah?" Unfortunately, all he heard was static. He then looked up in shock as he realized something.

 _Our communicators got cut off the last time Veenom was here,_ Geo thought.

He ran over and closed the door, only to be hit in the hand with a dart. He hissed in pain and saw it sit there. Last time, he remembered pulling it out before succumbing to unconsciousness, and decided not to pull it out for safe measures.

Geo looked towards his father on the ground, though was unsure whether to do anything or not. He stood there awkwardly and worriedly, wondering what he was going to do when the police got there. He had a dart in his hand, and if it came out, he was screwed in the face of the cops. Meanwhile, if he left, he was look suspicious.

As he heard sirens nearing, he decided to run out of the room and down in time to catch them.

"He's up there!" Geo yelled. "In apartment 20," He grabbed the arm of one of the cops. "Hey, I have to go home to see if my mother is okay, can I meet you guys at the hospital?"

The officer looked a bit hesitant, but nodded. "Alright, we'll be waiting."

"Thank you," Geo ran off in the direction of Ranger Ops, holding the dart in his hand for safety measures. _I hope I can get there soon._

~PRAG~

Kay was sitting outside of the school with Nate, deciding that they would hang out and study for a bit more even after the tutoring center closed. As the two sat there, Kay knelt down to pick something up and was shocked to see a dart hit the ground next to her. She stood up straight and looked in the direction it came, as did Nate, only to see Veenom walked ominously towards the two.

"Nate, you should run," She told him, keeping her eyes on Veenom as she turned her head back towards him.

Nate frowned. "And why is that? To leave you here to die? I can help you."

Kay almost rolled her eyes. "I doubt that," She pushed him back a bit. "Go, please."

Veenom walked closer and stopped ten feet away from the two. "Two for the price of one, huh? Perfect."

"We both know you only want..." Kay paused as she looked back at Nate, before taking a deep breath and continuing. "Power rangers, Veenom! Let Nate go!"

Veenom laughed. "Oh, pink ranger, how naive. I don't care who is a power ranger or who isn't. I want to kill everyone."

Kay pulled her pendant off. "We'll see about that. Animal Guardians, Arise! Power of the Flamingo!"

Nate stood and watched her as she pulled out her sword and ran forward. Even from the get go, it was very obvious how outmatched she was against just Veenom. He was a very experienced fighter, and always had it out for humans from the get go.

Kay kicked up at Veenom's face, but due to her small stature and his large one, she only made it to his chest and was pushed down easily in the process. She flipped back up to her feet and punched up with one hand and stabbed her sword at his abdomen with the other. Veenom dropped his scythe and weapons and grabbed both of her hands, twisting them out and pushing her down to her knees.

"Shall I break them?" He asked, smirking.

"I don't think so," Nate growled, a silver light shining from under his top.

Veenom and Kay both looked at him as he pulled out a glowing pendant with a lion on it. They stared in shock, watching as he pulled it off and shoved it in a morpher of his own.

"Animal Guardians, Arise!" He called as silver and black dust began to surround his body. "Power of the Lion!"

Nate stood there, fully morphed and staring angrily at Veenom. His suit was similar to the other guys, except his suit had a lion on his helmet, and had a full silver chest plate covering the white part of his suit. His suit was also majorily a dark gray shade with only his chest plate being silver. The chest plate also had a larger version of his pendant on the front.

Kay almost smiled, though she was still very shocked. She honestly never would've guessed. "Nate," She laughed in relief. "You're a ranger."

Veenom kicked Kay away from him and rounded on Nate, who pulled a large hammer-type weapon off of his belt and pointed it at Veenom, "You're going down, Veenom. It's the end of the line."

"We'll see about that." Veenom growled, picking up his scythe as Nate ran at him.

Nate slammed his hammer down, and Veenom held up his scythe to block the hammer, but, surprisingly, the scythe broke under the force of the weapon, causing Veenom to stumble back and stare at his weapon in shock.

The silver ranger smirked, putting his hammer on his shoulder as he watched Veenom. The villain threw his scythe down on anger and growled at Nate. "You stupid little ranger!" He bellowed. "I will destroy you personally!"

Nate pulled the front of his hammer back as Veenom began to run at him, turning it into a blaster to throw the alien back. Veenom stared up at Nate as he held the hammer, back in it's original formation, and walked close to him.

Veenom attempted to reach his darts, but Nate kicked them away. "So, I guess we did see about it." Nate looked around and sighed, seeing all of Veenom's weapons gone and him laying on the ground defenseless. He could destroy him right here, but it just seemed too easy. "What's your game, anyways? I didn't think you'd give up this easily."

"I guess you've caught me red-handed, silver ranger." Veenom chuckled. "Go ahead and destroy me, because I'll just come back stronger."

Kay stood up behind Nate and gasped, while Nate stared for a moment. "You're lying."

"Try me."

Nate raised his weapon, and was about to bring it down when Kay stopped him. "He could be right, Nate. We have come up with a better strategy. If he comes back stronger and stronger every time we kill him, we'll never win." She told him.

Veenom smirked. "Your girlfriend's right," He hissed. "But if you want, take a swing."

Nate brought his weapon down to the side of him, smashing all of the poison darts Veenom had. "No!" The alien yelled as Nate put his hammer back at his belt and shook his head.

"I suggest you leave for a while, because, if we see you again, we will destroy you, no matter what you say." Nate growled as he and Kay took off in the direction of the command center.

~PRAG~

Much later that day, the rangers all decided to meet back at Ranger Ops, Geo having gone to the hospital to check on Noah and the others recovering a bit more to be back at full strength.

They all sat in the living room, and Geo came back, sighing as he sat down on the couch. "The police questioned me, and then I saw Noah. He looks really bad, and they said they don't know when he's going to wake up or anything."

"I hope he'll be okay," Cal rubbed a hand on Geo's back. "I know how it is to have something happen to a father, and it's hard."

"We're all here for you, Geo," Tanzo nodded. "Whatever you need, friend, you got it."

The others nodded.

"Thanks guys," Geo smiled with pursed lips.

There was a moment of awkward silence, before Kay broke it. "Okay, I know this is bad timing, but this is Nate. The silver ranger."

They all turned to them in shock, and Nate smiled. "Yeah, I'm Nathan Giles. It's nice to finally meet the rest of you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Ada shook his hand. "I'm Ada, and I'm new too. Crimson ranger."

"I'm Tanzo," The yellow ranger waved at him with a welcoming smile. "The yellow ranger.

"Roger," Roger nodded at him. "Black ranger, and second-in-command. Proudly so," He said, looking down with a slight smile. _I don't need anyone's opinions. I_ am _proud to be second._

"I'm Callie, but you can call me Cal," Cal smiled. "I'm blue."

Geo shook his hand as well. "Geo, the red ranger, and leader. Welcome to the team, Nate."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Ada reveals she knows of another ranger who just moved into town, the teal ranger, who makes his first appearance in a fight against a new monster, Skunk, who's spray is toxic.

 **Next chapter title:** Teal Ranger

 **The next chapter is the end of this arc, and will tie up all loose ends that you probably found throughout this chapter.**

 **Oh, if you don't read my other story or haven't voted yet, there is a poll on my profile that you might like. I've already wrote up part of the guidelines to the contest, and it'll probably be up later, though, if more people vote no than yes (even though it's 100% on yes right now) it won't go up until this story is over, probably.**

 **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I can't wait to see your opinions if you have time! See you soon, guys!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	21. Ep 19: Teal Ranger

**Hey guys, sorry I'm a bit late! If you don't follow me or my other works, then you wouldn't know that I've been working on a new story along with this one and Guardians of the Galaxy. I've been working on this behind the scenes (and one for after this is over), and I'm positive that this story will be over in August or so. Watch out, because big things are coming to the end!**

 **Oh, and the new ranger was created by Chirar, who I'd like to thank not only for that but for some insight as well!**

 **Benny is portrayed by Brandon Soo Hoo**

 **The new cover photo and video is now up if you guys want to check them out, also! Link in bio!**

* * *

After a bus entered the station coming from out of town, two adults waiting at the stop almost impatiently with two small children. One of them was a tall male of Asian descent, while the other was a shorter woman of Caucasian descent. They were holding hands, while the children were in a two-child stroller.

They watched people get off of the bus one by one, until a young male, about the age of 15, also of Asian descent, stepped off of the bus with a backpack on his back. He had cropped black hair, brown eyes, and was about 5'7. He wore black jeans with dark teal shirt under dark gray jacket. He also had a gray sneakers on.

"Benny!" The man called to him.

The boy, Benny, looked up and smiled when he saw him. "William! Michelle!" He almost dropped his backpack as he ran over to hug the two. He looked down at the babies. "And the twins! Kyle! Natalie!" He kissed them both on the foreheads. "They've grown so much!" He clapped William on the back. "It's great to see you, bro! I'm really happy to stay with you guys."

Michelle chuckled. "You're always welcome, Benny."

William nodded in agreement. "Always. Especially with mom and dad's act. I'm glad you're staying until school's over. Maybe you could even stay longer."

He shrugged. "I'd love to, but I guess that would depend on if there was something for me to stay for, you know? Who knows? Maybe I'll find something around here," Benny touched the pendant that dangled around his neck by a silver chain. It shined teal in the sun, and had a giraffe on it. "So, what do you guys do around here for fun?"

"Well, we're usually pretty busy," Michelle said as they began walking towards the car. "But, we know a lot of teenagers around here like to hang out at Carlyle's Diner. You could go if you want. See if you could meet any new friends."

Benny nodded. "Okay. Maybe I should." He smiled a bit and stood off to the side while Michelle and William got their car ready. He looked over and saw the sign, **Welcome to Welch County** near him.

He stared at it, and fiddled with the pendant around his neck more. _Nicole, where have you been? Where could you be? I miss you, and I'm going to find out what happened to you._

"Benny," Michelle gestured to the car. "You can get in now."

Benny took one last look at the sign before getting into the car.

 **~Cue Opening 3 (link in bio)~**

The rangers, minus Geo and Roger, sat at a table in Carlyle's, eating and enjoying each other's company. It had been about a week or so since Nate had joined the team, even longer since Ada joined, and the teens were enjoying each other's company. While Cal and Ada got increasingly closer, Nate and Kay did too, making Tanzo, who was the only other ranger with them, feel like a fifth wheel.

"Are you sure you guys wouldn't rather be alone?" Tanzo chuckled. "I mean, this is basically a double date, just with me involved."

The others assured him otherwise almost immediately. "No, Tanzo. We want you here too." Cal told him.

"It's just weird because Geo and Roger are gone. Otherwise it would feel like usual," Kay added. "It's just because you're not used to being the odd one out."

"Or maybe I need to get a girlfriend," Tanzo shrugged. "I mean, I'm always alone. I should get with someone."

"Well, do you like anyone?" Ada asked.

Tanzo shrugged. "Not really. No one really has that spunk I'm looking for, you know?"

Nate chuckled. "Spunk?"

"Yeah. You know..." Tanzo trailed off, gesturing, even though it was obvious he had no idea what he was talking about. "Spunk."

Kay nodded, laughing. "So, what kind of girl do you like?"

"I don't know - all I know is that I'd know her if I saw her." He said. "One of those 'love at first sight' kind of things."

"That's sweet," Cal smiled.

"Hey, I'm a sweet guy," He saw Ada give him a look. "Also, I'm not flirting with other people's girlfriends. That's not cool."

"Better not be..." Ada trailed off as she turned to see someone walk in. She was shocked when she saw who it was. "No way," She muttered under her breath.

Cal frowned at her. "What?"

Ada gestured towards the boy, who took a seat at the coffee bar with his laptop. "Do you know him? Any of you?" She looked around the table as everyone shook their heads. "That's Benny. The teal ranger. We've met before, and he knows it."

"What do you mean?" Nate frowned.

Ada glared at Benny. "I mean, he know's he's a ranger, and he knows this is where the attacks have been happening, and he just left us to be here. We need as much help as we can get, and he left us," Ada stood up roughly as began to walk towards him when Cal grabbed her arm.

"Hold up," Cal told her. "What are gonna do?"

"I just want to talk to him," Ada pulled her arm out of Cal's hands and walked over there, despite the other's protests.

Benny was in his own world, having his headphones in very engrossed in his laptop. Suddenly, a hand closed it and he had to pull his hands away suddenly to avoid his fingers being crushed. He took his headphones out and looked over. He almost fell back off of his seat when he saw who it was.

"Adelaide," Benny jumped up and backed up a bit at her angry face. "Why the long face?"

Ada almost scoffed. "Benny. Why are you here?"

Benny shrugged. "Am I not allowed to be here? I mean, I was aware that this establishment was free for anyone to come into." He chuckled, trying to act nonchalant.

"I mean, why are you in Welch County?" Ada crossed her arms. "I know you don't live here."

He made a face. "Actually, I do. For now, at least. Besides, Ada, I know why you're made at me and it's not even a valid reason. You have no idea why I stayed behind,"

"Then tell me why."

"I can't," Benny muttered. "It's personal, alright? Leave it at that."

Suddenly, people were heard screaming from outside. All of the rangers looked through the window and sighed at the sight of the monster outside. Ada turned to him. "I guess now that you're here for a while, you have to make a decision. Are you in, or out?"

The group ran out of the restaurant, leaving Benny behind to stare after them.

~PRAG~

Geo stood outside of Noah's hospital room, staring in through the window. He was allowed in, though he felt strange about it - unsure what he should do. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked back to see his mother behind him.

"The test results look good, sweetheart," Ashley told him. "He should make it out of this."

Geo looked back through the window. "Are you sure?"

Ashley sighed. "No one can ever be sure in a situation like this, Geo. We have to have hope and pray that he'll come out of it. It's in God's hands now."

Something inside Geo cracked, and he was suddenly very angry at his mother. "How can you say something like that?"

"What do you mean?" Ashley stepped back as he turned around, glaring at her.

"I mean, I have spent almost all year trying to save the world and you're saying that this is in God's hands?!" He exclaimed. "Nothing is in God's hands, mom, okay? I have spent month after month holding all of this anger in and I'm done with it! I used to have faith in all of that stuff, but now? No way! He or she or it has never done anything for me! I'm depressed, always getting hurt, and so are my friends! Just because I happen to think about it more, doesn't mean that they don't feel the same! We're tired of this!"

Ashley stared at him, deeply concerned. "Geo, what's..."

"I have to watch myself and my friends suffer and I can't do anything about it!" Geo cut his mother off. "I'm the leader - I'm supposed to keep them safe. I can't, and I don't. We always get hurt, and we all have problems, but we all act like it's totally cool because we have nothing else to do, and nothing else we can do. Until we defeat the Animali nothing will be okay," He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Even then, how are we going to forget all of what we saw and did. Why did we have to be chosen? How does Alicia expect us to do this?"

He straightened up suddenly, and looked to his mother, who was staring at him like he was insane. "I'm sorry, mom, but I have to go. I can't..." His morpher beeped in his pocket, and he growled under his breath. "I can't deal with this anymore."

Geo took one last look at Noah before taking off down the halls of the hospital, ignoring his mother's calls.

~PRAG~

Roger sat on the staircase, watching his mother talk to his father. Valerie was touching her stomach fondly, though it was obvious that she was going to do what she had always done when she had a baby - take off the minute she could to get back on business. She was a business woman - it was her job - but she practically obsessed with it, being a totally workaholic.

Bart, however, was a bit more laid-back, and preferred to relax rather than work all hours, though Valerie made that hard.

Roger thought back to what Chris said about being tired of this. What did he mean? Sure, he had been pressured a lot into a lot of things, but that couldn't have been the exact reason his outburst happened so rapidly.

The black ranger stood up from where he was sitting and walked up to his brother's room. He knocked lightly, and pushed the door open. Chris was sitting in his bed, on his laptop. From where Roger was standing, he could see that Chris was reading about surgery.

"Hey," Chris looked up, turning the laptop away from Roger. "What's up?"

Roger closed the door behind him. "So, umm.. this might make you upset, but I wanted to know what you meant when you said you were tired. It was a weeks ago, and you probably don't remember but..."

"I remember," Chris shut his laptop and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of his bed to face Roger. "Honestly, man, I don't think you wanna know."

"What do you mean?" Roger asked, sitting down in a computer chair nearby. "You're not, like, depressed are you?" He asked carefully.

Chris sighed. "Okay, I'm gonna level with you first. I've been looking it up, and, at this rate, who's knows what'll happen," He said, gesturing to his chest. "Just to be completely honest - I'm not trying to scare you."

"No, its.. yeah, I..." He trailed off, looking down without knowing what to say. Roger had never, before he found out, had to face the possibility that something like this would happen. It was frightening to say the least. He and Chris might not get along, but he was the only one in the family he could even come close to relying on for anything. If he was gone.. Roger had no idea what he would do. "So.. what does that have to do with this?"

"Because, I need to give you some advice that you're gonna have to have if I'm not around." Chris told him. "I'm tired because of you, Roger. I don't mean that now so much, but when we were younger..."

"Wait," Roger put up a hand to stop him. "What are you talking about?"

Chris sighed again. "Just listen. When we were younger, I had to raise you because mom and dad weren't around. It's tiring, man. Look, I know you got competitive when we were younger, and I know why. Look, I wasn't trying to upstage you, Roger. I was trying to impress mom or dad or anyone that would come home because I couldn't take the stress of raising you while I was still growing myself, and I'm worried that that's going to happen to you, okay? I _hated_ you when we were young. I thought it was completely unfair that you got to relax and have fun while I was forced to live by mom and dad's standards."

Roger opened his mouth to interrupt, but Chris continued talking.

"You didn't even know about them for a while, in fact. You got to be a kid, and I didn't and I completely resented you for that. I know you always thought I had the easy life, well look at yourself. You're healthy, you're doing good in school, you have friends, you're even a power ranger. You get to save the world. What do I have? A timer?"

Roger could even speak, though he found himself a bit angry. "You know, being a power ranger isn't all fantastic. Actually, besides the whole feeling of saving the world, it kind of sucks," He muttered. "Getting hurt all the time, seeing my friends get hurt. Not fun. And, I don't think 'a timer' is amusing," He looked up at him a bit angrily.

"I didn't say it was supposed to be," Chris retorted. "I didn't laugh either. It's the truth."

Suddenly, Roger's morpher beeped. He sighed and stood up. "I need to go out your window again - mom and dad are in the living room."

Chris nodded. "Go for it. Be careful."

Roger was climbing out the window and looked back at him. "Actually, I'll do more than that." Chris gave him a confused look and was about to ask what he was talking about when Roger jumped down and ran off.

~PRAG~

From inside Carlyle's, Benny watched the rangers morphing and fighting against the new monster, Skunk. Skunk was a powerful adversary, and knocked the rangers back easily.

He grabbed what looked like a grenade from his belt and threw it at the diner, making it through the window and into the restaurant. Most of the people in the diner had backed up against the far wall and didn't see the object in, but Benny walked slowly towards it as the rangers got up form the ground and threw themselves back at Skunk.

Benny picked up the device carefully and looked it over. Suddenly, it began spraying a strange green fog from the top. Benny reached his other hand up to touch it lightly, but immediately dropped it and clutched his hand in pain when it burned him. He backed away into the bathroom nearby as the fog began to fill the room, and looked at himself in the mirror.

His pendant glowed teal. "I have to do this, don't I?" He whispered to himself, washing his hand off furiously to fix his burned hand. Almost immediately, the burn disappeared, and he looked at it in shock before looking back up at his reflection. "I can do this."

Benny took his pendant off of his neck and shoved it in a morpher around his wrist. "Animal Guardians!" The pendant was sucked into his morpher, "Arise!"

Suddenly, Benny began to be surrounded by teal colored dust, and as it disappeared, he looked back at himself in the mirror. He took in the teal suit - one that looked similar to Tanzo's excepted it was teal and had a helmet designed after a giraffe.

He looked over to the door where he saw the fog beginning to seep in from the bottom. He braced himself for the pain, but as the fog surround him, he felt nothing. He looked around and smirked.

 _The suit protects me._ He thought. _But all of those people are in danger!_

Benny ran out into the diner to find people running out of the diner and allowing the fog to spread farther. _How can I stop this? If only it was raining!_ He then ran outside with the people and spotted a hose. _Perfect!_

He grabbed the hose and turned it on the diner. Quickly, the fog died down. The diner would definitely need a good cleaning, but it was worth it to save everyone. Benny then uncoiled the rest of the hose and ran around to the front, turning the spray on harder and approaching Skunk as the rangers were thrown back again.

"Benny?" Ada asked, looking up at him with a hose. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Well, I guess I figured something out about Skunk, here." Benny pointed the hose at the monster, who stepped back when he saw him. "Here's a little weakness." Benny turned the hose on full blast and sprayed Skunk down hard. Surprisingly, the alien began to hiss in pain and began to smoke like the water was burning him. "You see, I figured out that his power is neutralized by water, and I figured it'd probably work on him too."

When Skunk was thrown back and down on the ground, Benny turned the hose off and threw it to the ground. He pressed on his morpher and put his hand out, allowing a teal spear to appear in his hand.

"Giraffe Spear!" Benny called.

He ran forward and, as Skunk stood up, stabbed the monster hard and threw it back. Skunk flew back and exploded as he landed. Benny's spear disappeared as the other rangers got up and ran to him.

"You actually came through for us." Ada commented as they all demorphed. "I'm glad you did."

Benny chuckled. "Thank you,"

As the others congratulated and welcomed Benny to the team, Cal frowned as she looked around. "Hey guys?" She caught their attention. "Where are Geo and Roger?"

~PRAG~

Later, after waiting a bit to see if Geo and Roger would show up, the rangers came into Ranger Ops. When they did, they saw Alicia, Vi, Maya, Ginger, and Ben sitting in the living room, looking like they were having a serious talk. On the table in front of them were two morphers and two pendants.

"Alicia?" Cal asked, stepping up to them. Since Geo and Roger weren't there, she was the designated leader. "Guys? What's going on?"

They all looked over to see the other rangers standing there. Alicia looked up at them before turned back and leaning into Ben without speaking. Vi, however, stood up. "Okay, don't freak out."

"About what?" Ada crossed her arms.

Vi sighed. "It's about Geo and Roger..."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** The rangers are shocked to discover that their leader and second-in-command have quit, and work to get them back. Meanwhile, Alicia reveals to Ginger that she's pregnant, and Ben accidentally hears, making him leave out of fear and end up getting into trouble.

 **Next chapter title:** Trainer Danger

 **So, some of you might have been shocked at Geo's outburst, so allow me to explain a bit. First of all, it has already been established that Geo has depression, and that can easily make people lose faith and hope. That, combined with the stress of saving the world and all of his recent problems have taken a toll on him, causing him to lose faith in himself, and whatever he used to believe in (aka God).**

 **I apologize if his outburst has offended anyone who believes (or doesn't), but understand that this is someone who has believed that there's a reason for everything and that God has a way from him, and now doesn't understand why all of these things are happening to him.** **Now, I don't know much about that subject, as I am not a religious person, so I also apologize if I got anything wrong there.**

 **As for Roger, now, he has been contemplating walking away from being a ranger this whole arc so far. He has a lot of stress on his plate, and after his brother's comment about him not being the leader as a problem, he doesn't feel like being on the team is making him do his best - which he almost obsessively tries to accomplish.**

 **Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter and Benny (who's bio is in the first chapter now), and I'll see you guys with a new chapter very soon!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	22. Ep 20: Trainer Danger

**Hey guys, here's the next chapter! I've been working hard to finish this story since I have more planned, along with my other two stories, and I like moving on to new projects (not that I don't like this one). Updates are hopefully going to be coming faster now, and this story should be done sometime next month to the very start of September.**

 **Oh, and I realized that I had forgotten to put up the new cover photo for this story when I posted the last chapter, but it's up now if you want to see it!**

 **Also, I have a question to respond to two reviewers. I would've PMed them, but one is a guest, and both had a similar question. How and when Benny became a ranger will be revealed a bit in this chapter, or in his Fear Factor chapter, as will the reason Ada jumped on him. Either way, I'm glad you guys liked it!**

* * *

 **Last time on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

Later, after waiting a bit to see if Geo and Roger would show up, the rangers came into Ranger Ops. When they did, they saw Alicia, Vi, Maya, Ginger, and Ben sitting in the living room, looking like they were having a serious talk. On the table in front of them were two morphers and two pendants.

"Alicia?" Cal asked, stepping up to them. Since Geo and Roger weren't there, she was the designated leader. "Guys? What's going on?"

They all looked over to see the other rangers standing there. Alicia looked up at them before turned back and leaning into Ben without speaking. Vi, however, stood up. "Okay, don't freak out."

"About what?" Ada crossed her arms.

Vi sighed. "It's about Geo and Roger..."

 **Now**

The rangers stared at Vi in shock. The six looked amongst each other, before looking back at the adults. "What do you mean 'they quit?'" Ada asked, stepping forward with her arms crossed.

Maya stood up to stand with Vi. "They came here and said they don't want the burden anymore. It's too much with everything else going on." She sighed. "I don't know what we're going to do about this."

"I'm gonna talk to them," Cal spoke up suddenly, causing everyone to look at her and make her turn a bit red under the attention. "I've been here since the beginning with them, and it's my job to lead in their absence. While I get them, Tanzo and Kay will be in charge since I'll be busy, and they'll show you three the ropes, even if you think you already know them."

The other five nodded. "Okay," Tanzo stepped up. "We can handle it, Cal." Kay nodded along with him.

Cal smiled. "Good. We should probably take some time to regroup until tomorrow - I'll talk to them at school. I have both of them in AP biology."

Tanzo left first, followed by Kay and Nate together. Benny, Ada, and Cal stayed behind for a little bit, talking to Vi and Maya.

"What do we do if we can't get them back?" Cal asked, looking worriedly at the two.

Vi and Maya exchanged looks. "We're not sure."

"The powers can't be transferred to anyone unless the person dies," Ada said. "So, without Geo and Roger, the powers are useless."

"And they know it too," Maya said, crossing her arms.

Vi frowned at her girlfriend. "You don't think they're doing this on purpose, do you?"

Maya shook her head. "No, but that doesn't change the weight of their actions. They're putting the world at sake for personal matters. It's not worth it."

Alicia was listening to them, before she stood up. She was wearing a different outfit than usual - a looser pair of pants and shirt she got from Ginger. "Guys, I think you should all go home and get some rest. Cal, you were right - we'll deal with this tomorrow. Please, go home."

The three looked at her, before nodding and leaving.

 **~Cue Opening 3~**

The next day at school, Cal sat in AP biology in the morning, waiting at a lab table for her partners to come in for the experiment. Thankfully, since she, Geo, and Roger sat together, they were her lab partners.

She heard the door open and looked up, seeing Roger and Geo come in together, looking a bit worse for wear. She frowned as she looked them over, but as they looked over at her, she quickly looked down, acting as if she hadn't seen them yet.

Cal waited until she heard them pull out the other stools and settle in before she looked up at them, noticing them looking at her a bit sheepishly. She took in a deep breath to compose herself before she uncharacteristically and uncomfortably crossed her arms and tried to look angrily at them.

"So, what did you two do yesterday?" She asked, trying to look tough to them. "Do you want to tell me, or should I tell you what I know?"

Geo pursed his lips. "I'm guessing you heard," He concluded, making her nod. "And the others too?" She nodded again. "You guys are angry."

"Not all of us - I'm guessing you could probably figure out who is and who isn't on your own." Cal said. "But I don't like being angry - I'm just confused." She softened her look.

Roger looked up at her, having been looking at the floor the whole time so far. "What's confusing about it, Cal? Why in the world do you want to be a power ranger? There's too much at risk for that. What if our families get hurt? Our other friends? Oh wait, we don't have any because we're not safe to be around anymore." He growled.

Geo put a hand up, silently telling him to calm down. "Look, with everything going on in our personal lives, it's hard to keep all of this stress on our shoulders. I mean, come on - my dad could die, and his brother could too. We have more important things to focus on. You wouldn't understand."

Cal shook her head and scoffed. "You know what, I'm done being the good cop. I know exactly what it's like, okay?! My dad _is_ dead, and has been for ten years! I dealt with the guilt that I hurt his feelings for years because I ran away when I found out what was happening! You should be grateful that the people you have are still here, even if it's not for long!"

"What?" Was all Geo could say, he and Roger exchanging looks as Cal continued to glare at them. "You never told us that."

She took a deep breath. "It never came up before. Either way, it's not something I like to talk about." Sighing, she continued. "Listen, I was only seven when it happened, and I understand that you guys are more affected since you actually know what's happening, but I still know that it's hard - really hard. If.. the unthinkable happens, I'll be here for you, okay? No matter what you do."

"Why?"

"Because you guys are my best friends, stupid." Cal gave a light chuckle. "I'll always be here for you guys."

"So, this conversation isn't about you trying to get us back on the team?" Roger asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

Cal sighed. "It is, but you know I can't make you. All I can do is tell you that we need you guys, and so does the world. I know it's stressful - what you guys are going through - but, what's the use of trying to protect them or anything if the world's gonna go down because we need help that we don't have?"

Geo and Roger looked at each other once more before looking at Cal. "You guys can just find new people."

"No, we can't." Cal shook her head. "The powers have bonded with you. Unless you die, we have no way of using them. I mean, honestly, you have to make a choice, guys. The fate of the world should be worth being stressed out every now and then. If the world ends, everything you love and worry about - it's all going to be gone."

When they didn't respond, Cal sighed and began silently working on their project, leaving them with their thoughts.

~PRAG~

Alicia sat at the kitchen table with her head in one of her hands, and the other on her slowly growing abdomen. It had been a month, at least, since she had found out she was pregnant, and she already had to change her usually tight clothing for looser clothes - not only for the baby's sake, but for Ben's sake also.

She had yet to tell him the news, as she knew it was a bit of a touchy subject, and wearing tighter clothes would only accent her pregnancy and practically show it off, despite it not being very noticeable yet.

Not only that, but she felt very on edge around him, worried that if he touched her or got too close, he would find out. She wished it could be easier, but it wasn't, and she had no idea how he would react when he found out.

The problem was, at this point, even though it wasn't extremely noticeable, it was still there and it wasn't too hard to spot. Alicia knew that it was getting to be time to tell him, but, as she was waiting for him to join her in the kitchen, she was almost regretting calling him in at all.

She heard footsteps approach, and turned around slowly to see Ben walk in. He smiled and kissed her on the forehead, before sitting down next to her at the table.

"So, is there any new news on Geo and/or Roger yet?" He asked, assuming that was why she asked to see him.

Alicia shook her head, trying to act nonchalant. "No, not yet." She nervously took his hand across the table and looked him in the eye. "I actually called you here for a very different, and hopefully not too bad, reason."

Ben frowned. "What's going on? Are you okay? Is it the rangers?" He asked, looking worried.

"No, no - they're fine. I'm fine," Alicia smiled. "Well, actually I'm better than that, because someone else is fine too."

He chuckled at her, obviously still confused. "Of course I'm fine, sweetie."

"Ben," She squeezed his hand tightly, asserting her voice. "This is serious, and I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about our baby!"

As soon as she blurted it out, he went very still and looked at her stomach, now noticing it's size for the first time. "What?"

Alicia nodded. "I'm pregnant."

He pulled his hand out of her grasp and stood up, putting his hands on his head in shock as she stood as well. "I don't know what to say."

"Maybe you could say that it's great and you can't wait to be a dad," Alicia crossed her arms, almost glaring at him. "I don't understand why this is a _problem_ for you. Most people I know would be so excited to have a child."

Ben looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. "Alicia, you don't get it! Both of my parents are dead! I was pulled from my dead mother's body! I never had parents! I can't let myself bring a child into the world with that risk - especially with the monsters and aliens around! I can't do this," He grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair he was sitting on.

"Where are you going?!" Alicia asked, slightly stunned by his outburst.

"I can't handle this right now." He sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Alicia, I'm going for a walk. I need to clear my head."

~PRAG~

Benny sat awkwardly in study hall, looking at Ada nearby. Sighing exasperatedly at his continuous glancing and staring at her, she stood up, gathered her things, and walked over to him. She put her things down and sat right in front of him.

"So, why, exactly, do you keep staring at me?" Ada asked, crossing her arms.

He shrugged. "I'm just wondering if you still have a problem with the past. I regret what happened, and you know that."

"That doesn't mean I'm not upset," Ada said. "I mean, you've had the powers to help out for as long as Nate and I have, but you've been avoiding coming here, and I don't get it."

"Like I said, it's personal." Benny told her, looking uncomfortable. "I'm here searching for something, and I intend to find it. If I destroy a few monsters along the way, so be it."

"Why didn't you come earlier, then?"

Benny sighed. "I didn't know what I was looking for, or what I wanted. It's complicated."

Just then, Nate came and sat at the table next to them. "I guess the original team is back together, huh?" The two gave him a look, and he chuckled. "What? It's not like it's not true, guys. We are the original three. Alicia and Ben picked us before they picked Geo, Roger, and Cal."

"That doesn't make us the original team, Nate." Ada rolled her eyes. "They even told us to come in later, and you know that. We were never going to be them. We were always meant to be the extra rangers. Geo, Roger, and Cal are who it's really gonna come down to."

Nate gave a sad smile. "Yeah, but I wish it wasn't that way. I really love helping people, and I didn't like waiting to do it. It would've been awesome to be around from the start."

"Not for me," Benny shook his head. "I was here on vacation with my brother and sister, and I was only thirteen. I wasn't ready at all."

"You were here on vacation? But, I thought you lived with your siblings." Ada frowned.

"No," He muttered. "Well, sort of. I did for a little while, but then.. something happened and I had to go back to my parents."

Nate raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, I didn't even know you had siblings."

"Really?" Benny was a bit surprised, but he also remembered that he didn't really get to know Nate all the much back then. "Yeah, I have two. I'm the youngest."

"Must be nice." Nate commented. "I've always been an only child - but I wish I wasn't sometimes. It can get a bit lonely, which is why I like to make friends and try to hit it off with everyone. One example might be my amazing girlfriend, who I'm so happy got along with me so fast and easy."

Ada chuckled. "Well, I can tell that she finds you very charming. I'm glad you found someone."

Nate smiled. "I'm glad you have someone too. You and Cal have good relationship."

"Thank you," Ada laughed, before the two looked to Benny. "So, do you have your eyes on anyone?"

Benny smirked. "Possibly. Do you remember those strange dreams?"

"Oh yes," Ada nodded, Nate nodding with her as well.

"I was in Geo's dream," Benny told them. "And I was his boyfriend."

Nate and Ada exchanged looks. "So, have you talked to him in person yet?" Nate asked.

"Well, no." Benny said. "But, I will. If Cal hasn't already, I'll talk to him about the team."

Ada sighed. "Hopefully she has, because we really need their help in this. We'll never beat all of the Animali without their help. Without it, we're sitting ducks. Who knows what'll happen?"

~PRAG~

"Did you just say that 'he ran away?'" Maya asked into her phone, sitting with the remaining rangers and Vi at lunch. "Ben is a grown man, and he couldn't have done that. He loves you." She sighed. "Okay, we'll keep an eye out. Bye."

Vi looked at her as she put her phone back in her pocket. "What's going on?"

"Alicia's pregnant." She announced to the table, shocking the rangers. "And Ben left to go clear his head a few hours ago, and hasn't been heard from since. Ginger went to check out the boxing studio, and found it trashed, but he wasn't there."

"Wait, trashed like Ben trashed it or trashed like a monster attack?" Kay asked.

Maya shrugged. "Hopefully the first one. We should check it out as soon as possible."

"We need a plan first." Cal said. "I think Kay, Tanzo, Ada, and Nate should go now, and Benny and I will meet them after we talk with Geo and Roger."

Vi shook her head. "No, Cal you should go with them - there needs to be a leader. Benny and Maya can get them, and I can monitor the surveillance around town. If anyone figures out what's going on, call immediately."

The rangers stood. "Will do."

Benny watched them all leave, before looking past Maya to see Geo sitting under a tree outside of the library. "I see Geo. Do you know where Roger is?" He asked Maya. Vi handed them both Geo and Roger's pendants and morphers respectively.

Maya nodded. "He's inside the library. He usually goes there when he needs to be alone. I'll talk to him, and you'll get Geo?"

"Yeah." Benny and Maya stood up, walking over. Benny stopped in front of Geo, causing the latter to look up at him. The sun made it a bit hard to see Benny's face, but, when his eye's adjusted, he was shocked. "Hey, Geo. You wanna talk?" He asked, sitting down in the grass in front of him.

Geo stared at him. "Are you.. you were in my dream." He said, a bit breathlessly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Benny, the teal ranger." Benny told him. "I'm new, but you wouldn't know that since you quit the team."

"You're a ranger?" Geo looked him over. "I didn't think you were real." He shook his head. "Either way, why does it matter to you that I'm not on the team anymore? You don't even know me."

Benny shrugged. "Maybe I want to get to know you." He said, giving him a small smile. "Besides, it's important that you're on the team, Geo. I know it's stressful and hard, but it's also completely worth it to see people living, and smiling, and having fun. There's always gonna be bad in the world, but at least we can put a stop to some of it. You're the only one that can take on the red powers," He held out Geo's pendant. "What do you say?"

~PRAG~

Cal groaned as she was thrown back by the newest monster, Elephant. He was larger than most of the aliens they dealt with, and a bit stronger as well. On the end of his trunk was a wrecking-ball type weapon, and he had two swords shaped like tusks.

"Is it just me, or are these guys getting stronger?" Tanzo asked, being thrown back into a nearby car. "I mean, shouldn't I be able to take this guy? I have the elephant powers!"

"Focus!" Cal yelled to him as she pushed herself up to her feet. "We're gonna need all of our power to beat this guy."

As she ran forward, Kay was thrown back as well, after being struck by Elephant's trunk. "But we don't have all of our power, Cal!"

Cal took out her sword and clashed against Elephant's. "Well, we have to work with what we've got! We're strong, and we can do it if we have to!" Elephant knocked Cal's sword from her hand, and slashed her across the chest, knocking her back again.

Ada jumped over her and swung her axe hard at the alien. "Don't mess with _my_ girlfriend!" When Elephant tried to use one of his swords to overtake her axe, Ada kicked up at his chest, but her foot was caught in his trunk as it wrapped around her ankle. He pulled and knocked her down to the ground before spinning her around and throwing her into a nearby building.

"Ada!" Cal exclaimed, running over to help her.

Nate came in with his hammer, trying to hit down on Elephant's head. The alien ducked to the side, making Nate hit the ground instead, before stepping down hard on his back, forcing him into the ground and causing cracks t surface in the road around his body.

"Let him go!" Kay exclaimed, taking out her blaster and shooting Elephant, making him stumble off of Nate, though it didn't do all too much besides that.

Elephant huffed at her. "You insolent girl," He growled, running at her head first. Kay screamed and jumped out of the way, causing Elephant to ram into a nearby car and practically destroy it. The car flipped over multiple times before landing on it's side and smoking dangerously.

Tanzo got up and tackled the monster to the side while Nate grabbed Kay and pulled her out of the way. "The car's gonna blow!" He exclaimed, causing Tanzo, Ada, and Cal to look over at it.

Elephant threw Tanzo off of him and looked as the rangers regrouped in front of him, the car being to the side of them all. Elephant smirked and extended his trunk, hitting them all with the wrecking ball, and knocking them next to the car.

"Rangers!" They were struggling to get up, and looked over to see Ben standing there with a blaster of his own in his hand, blasting Elephant to the side with surprising firepower. He ran over and began to help them away from the car one by one.

"The car is gonna blow!" Cal told him as he helped her to a tree a bit away.

Ben nodded. "I know. I'll handle this."

He got all of the rangers to the tree and stood in front of Elephant as he could see the flames erupting from the car already, and he knew it was coming soon. He took out his blaster and threw it at the rangers before running at the alien.

The rangers watching in horror as their unarmed instructor ran towards Elephant, and were shocked to see Benny and Geo running towards the battle as well, full morphed.

Ben grabbed onto Elephant and tried to tackle him to the ground, but he wasn't strong enough. Before any of them knew what happened, Elephant threw Ben towards the car, which exploded that moment, throwing Elephant back, as well as Ben - though the trainer didn't get very far towards it before the explosion happened.

"No!" The rangers, including Geo and Benny, yelled as they watched Ben fly through the air and land across the street, not moving when he landed.

Geo saw Elephant get up as the other rangers ran to help Ben. He growled and ran over to pick up Ben's blaster, pointing it at the monster and walking close to him. "You're dead," He growled lowly to the monster. "Now."

Elephant smirked. "Oh yeah? Was that particular human important to you?" He chuckled. "It doesn't matter if you kill me, because he's probably dead anyways."

"You monsters will never kill anyone again," Geo shook his head. "Because we are going to destroy you, and it's going to be for good this time!"

Geo shot the blaster at point-blank range, knocking himself back in the process and causing an explosion between the two. Geo demorphed as he landed in the grass, with Benny coming to his aid. As the teal ranger helped him up, they saw Elephant destroyed, and Geo smirked.

"You know, you're right." Geo told him.

Benny looked over at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"About the whole thing. How it's worth it to fight back to save people," Geo said. "All of the stress I go through - it really is worth it."

"Guys," Cal ran up to them. "Geo, it's really good to have you, and we're all happy to see you, but we have to get Ben to a hospital, now. It's not good."

~PRAG~

"What the hell do you mean, 'no?'" Maya asked, crossing her arms at Roger as they sat on a park bench near the school, having left after lunch to continue their conversation. "It's not exactly an option, Roger. If you don't help, the world will end."

Roger rolled his eyes. "You have three new rangers."

"Yeah, and we have a team of eight for a reason. We need _all_ of you to help out and really be effective."

"I just..." He sighed. "It's complicated, Maya. I mean, I want to help but.. it's hard."

Maya looked him over, and sighed as well. "A lot of things are hard, Roger, but that doesn't mean people don't do them. Look, I totally get what you're going through - my mom died when I was young and it was really difficult. I know that isn't exactly the same, but I know what you're looking at in the potential future, and that could make everything else worse, but you can't just give up."

Roger crossed his arms uncomfortably. "Well, my brother is. He's giving up," Roger looked at the ground. "I went with him to his doctor's appointment, and he was talking about just letting nature take it's course. He's talking about dying - he wants to die!"

Maya put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Roger. Maybe.. it wasn't like that; maybe it's not that he _wants_ to die. I mean, when people have these really bad conditions, sometimes they think that's the only way out of it."

"It doesn't matter, though, because it's gonna happen anyways. The doctor said that even if the surgery is successful, he only has a realistic chance of 5-10 more years, which Chris doesn't even seem to want." Roger took a deep breath. "You know, I've always had a pretty bad relationship with him, but being faced with this.. I don't know what I'd do if he died," He looked up at Maya with pain in his eyes. "What do I do?"

"Take your time, Roger." Maya said after a moment. "The date is coming up in a few weeks, and I'll talk to the others about the situation, okay? You can hold off on your ranger decision until after, but I really want you to think about it."

Roger looked at her thoughtfully and nodded. "I will."

"Until then, you don't have to avoid us. Even if you decide not to, we're still your friends and we want you around, okay?" Maya gave him a small smile, when her phone buzzed. She frowned deeply. "Oh my god," She whispered. "We have to go to the hospital, now."

Roger stared at her as she stood up, frowning as well. "What's going on? One of the others?"

"It's Ben."

~PRAG~

The rangers all sat in the waiting room worriedly as they waited for any news on Ben. Alicia and Ginger had already arrived, and were in the room with him and the doctor. Soon, Maya and Roger joined them, explaining their situation before learning about what happened with Ben.

They all sat in silence for a while, before Ginger came out of the room, sighing. The rangers stood to greet her.

"How is he?" Kay asked, leaning into Nate.

Ginger took a deep breath. "He's pretty badly banged up - a lot of burns, a few broken bones, cuts, and bruises - but, the doctor said he should make a full recovery within a few months, and should be able to go home within a week or two, depending on how his recovery is going."

"Thank god," Maya laughed out of relief. "When can we see him?"

"Not until tomorrow," Ginger put her hands up to stop Maya, who was ready to go in to see her mentor. "Only family."

Inside the room, the doctor and Ginger had left, leaving Alicia and Ben alone. He was drowsy and sore, though he was happy to see his wife.

"I was so worried," Alicia said, wiping tears off of her face with her free hand, having the other one hold Ben's hand. "I thought the absolute worst. I'm so happy you're okay."

Ben gave her a tired smile. "And I'm glad you're here.. with our baby." He looked to her stomach. "I'm sorry I freaked out. I was just scared, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm so happy to start a family with you." She started crying out of joy, and he shook his head. "Hey, none of that. Now, let me feel my daughter."

Alicia laughed, pulling his hand towards her. "Your daughter? You already know?"

"Of course," Ben smiled at her. "She's gonna be just like her mom, which is the best thing anyone could ask for."

Alicia kissed his hand and crawled into the small bed beside him. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," Ben kissed her forehead.

Meanwhile, in another area of the hospital, Geo walked towards his father's room, and looked in through the window. His mother was sitting there, watching him for a few moments before she turned towards the window, almost sensing his presence. She got up from her seat immediately and walked quietly out of the room.

"Geo?" She asked, pulling him in close. "Thank god! I was so worried when you had your breakdown and then didn't come home last night. I'm glad you're here."

Geo hugged his mother back before pulling away. "Mom, I want to say I'm sorry for the way I exploded on you yesterday, and I feel like I have a few things to explain, if you have some time."

Ashley nodded. "Of course, sweetie, what's going on?"

"Okay, well, I'm the red power ranger, to start off," He said, showing her his morpher. She stared at it, before looking back up at his face. "Don't say anything, yet. This whole situation with Noah and being a ranger and everything is really stressful, mom, and I need you to understand that some of the things you say or think about me - they aren't the same as they used to be. I've changed."

His mother was silent for a moment, before nodding. "Okay."

Geo frowned. "'Okay?'"

"Okay," She repeated. "You're not the same person you used to be, at all - you're stronger, and more brave, and I'm very proud of you. I'll be rooting for you out on the battle field, and so will Noah." Ashley gave him a small smile. "He woke up earlier. He's gonna make a full recovery."

Geo stared at her in shock, before engulfing her in another hug.

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Ada finds herself in a dream including all of her fears.

 **Next chapter title:** Fear Factor Part VI

 **So, we're going back to the Fear Factor arc for three chapters - a bit of a deviation from the actual plot, but we'll get back on track immediately after. These might be slightly different, in the sense that they're going to show how each other the three new rangers actually became rangers.**

 **Oh, and I've been the Beta for an awesome story, Power Rangers: Wolf Pack, by Nightfury991. It's a good story, and I recommend giving it a read!**

 **Here's the lineup for the next five chapters, after the one I already described above.**

 **Ep 22: Fear Factor Part VII -** Nate focused.

 **Ep 23: Fear Factor Part VIII -** Benny focused.

 **Ep 24: The Heart Wants What It Wants Part I -** Roger and Benny focused.

 **Ep 25: The Heart Wants What It Wants Part II -** Part two, Roger and Benny focused.

 **Ep 26: Saviors -** Vi and Maya focused. Part one of TBA (Spoilers) arc.

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you guys very soon!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	23. Ep 21: Fear Factor Part VI

**Here is Ada's part of the Fear Factor Arc. If you read the other Fear Factor chapters, you should know how this goes by now. I hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **Oh, and to respond to Ranger Red 2.0, I'm actually not planning to do a crossover with Data Surge in this story, though there will be one with Ancient Animals, and two preview chapters for my next two projects, making this story end at about chapter 32. The other reason I wasn't planning on that was because of the different timelines (Data Surge in 2023 range, and this story in 2016). Sorry if you were expecting that, but I hope you enjoy the crossover I will have!**

* * *

Ada rolled over in her rough sheets, enjoying her sleep while she could. Since it was getting towards the hotter months, she wore a crimson tank top and black pajama shorts for pajamas, rather than the heavier clothes she wore in the winter. Unfortunately, a side effect of little clothing involved her old, scratchy sheets right up on her legs and arms, which was quite uncomfortable.

Since her mother didn't have a job, Ada was left with the same old things and hand-me-downs for many years at a time, usually until she or her older brother, TJ, came into contact with some money for them to get new things, which wasn't often.

Ada wasn't opposed to have a job in the least, but being a ranger made that hard. She was hoping, after TJ got his own place and was stable, that she and Kassidy could move in with him, but it had yet to happen.

She didn't even have to move out, as long as her younger sister, Kassidy, could do so. The home environment all three of them lived in wasn't good, and the only reason they hadn't been able to move out was that their mother, Veronica, would steal TJ's money for alcohol.

When Veronica would get drunk, she would abuse her children, but Ada wouldn't stand for it. She began to fight back against her mother when she was 15, and refuses to back down in the face of her mother. Kassidy, however, despite being that age, cowered in the face of her mother, and TJ would stay in his room, avoiding her at any cost. Despite being taller, and obviously strong enough to fight back, TJ never had. He cowered from her as well.

Ada took in a deep breath to try and forget about her thoughts, but she never could. Not when it was this quiet. Ada frowned, still keeping her eyes closed. Why was it so quiet? It never was at this time.

Then again, Ada didn't exactly know what time it was.

She laid in bed and listened, and almost opened her eyes. Almost. That was when she felt a small weight moving across her bed. It seemed to be an animal, given the size and weight of it, though she didn't know exactly what it was.

It had small feet, and moved around her nimbly. When it got close, she reached her hand out. The moment she did, she felt a burning pain and opened her eyes to look at her hand.

On her fingers were three long scratches, already beginning to bleed. Ada looked over at the creature, and screeched quietly. A black cat with piercing yellow eyes stared at her.

When Ada was very young, she remembered going to the park with her father, who had left her when she was five. Before that, he used to take her to the park everyday. One of those days, she found a stray cat hiding under the play structure, and tried to play with it. Being a young child, she didn't know any better, and got scratched up pretty bad. Since then, she usually didn't mess with cats.

Now, one was in her bed. She chuckled nervously. "Hello," She forced a smile, as if the cat knew what she was saying. "Who are you?"

She tried to reach out to look at it's collar, but it stood up and arched it's back, fur standing up, and hissed at her. Ada immediately pulled her hand back and nodded at the cat. "Alright, this can be your room now, don't worry about it. I'll just be leaving."

Ada scooted back off of her bed, ending up falling on the ground. She groaned and turned around to push herself up when she gasped. Standing in front of her door had to be at least ten or fifteen cats.

Immediately jumping up from the ground, she looked over to her lone window, which also had cats in front of it. She turned back to the door, deciding it was probably the better option.

"Okay, I'm not gonna hurt you guys," Ada said carefully. "You guys are just little cats. I could never hurt any of you, so I'm hoping you won't hurt me either, right?" The cats just stared at her. "Yeah, you have no idea what I'm talking about, so I'm just gonna open my door, okay?"

She walked carefully over to the door, and the moment she got close, all of the cats began meowing and pouncing at her. Screaming she pushed them off of her legs and opened the door, running out as fast as she could.

 **~Cue Opening 3~**

Ada knew something was off when she ended up out in a field she didn't recognize, fully dressed. She looked around in confusion, before down at herself. She wasn't just fully dressed, she was formally dressed in a crimson colored ballgown and she could feel the high-heels on her feet.

She took in a deep breath, noticing there was nothing around her for a long ways out. She frowned.

"What the hell is going on here?"

"Ada," She heard a familiar voice call to her. Ada turned to see her ex-girlfriend, Artemis, walking towards her in a dress as well. "Dance with me?"

As Artemis reached out to touch her, Ada pulled back. "No." She shook her head, pulling back. "No, don't touch me, Artemis."

Artemis frowned. "Why? You love me."

"No," Ada pulled away as Artemis reached out for her again. "I don't love you. Leave me alone."

"Of course you love me," The girl chuckled. "How could you not? I was your first girlfriend."

"Artemis, that doesn't mean that I love you," Ada took her shoes off so she could effectively move away, and threw them down in front of the other girl. "You need to back off."

Artemis' face turned to one of anger. "How could you not love me?" She shrieked in rage. "Who else could you love?! Nobody!"

"Yes, there is," Ada was shocked at this performance. Artemis was always a very serious and calm person, so this was very out of the ordinary and a bit frightening. "I love somebody else. I actually love her, and you can't change that!"

The girl stared at her, her whole body deflating in grief. "How could you let me down like that?" She asked, her voice cracking. "I don't understand. How could you let anyone down like that?" Her voice was small and painful to listen to.

"I can't say I'm sorry, Artemis. I can't, because I'm not." Ada whispered. "I'm in love with a girl named Callie Marie Campbell, and you can't change that. Not now, and not ever."

Suddenly, instead of disappearing, Artemis was shot down with a laser that came from behind Ada. She gasped and turned around to see Veenom standing there. She got ready to morph, when Veenom shockingly turned into Maya, who shook her head as Ada ran to where Artemis was, but the girl was gone. All that remained was her dress.

"You can't save everyone, Ada," Maya spoke, standing above her as she fell to her knees beside the dress. "You just can't."

"What?" Ada looked up at her and was shocked when Maya kicked her to the side, making her fall through an open door.

~PRAG~

Ada landed hard on a dirty, carpet floor. She coughed as dust flew up and hit her in the face, sitting up immediately to get away from the dust getting into her lungs rapidly. Once she regained her bearing and cleared her throat, she looked up around her. She was now back in her house, but something was off.

While she didn't hear any yelling, she did hear crying and could smell alcohol strongly coming from the kitchen.

Cautiously, Ada pushed herself to her feet and looked towards the kitchen. The living room and the kitchen were divided by a wall with a door, and the door was open, so she could see partially into the other room.

When she looked, she immediately gasped and looked away. There was blood all over the ground in a puddle, and she could still hear crying.

Ada looked around and found a fire poke nearby, grabbing it in case she got attacked, and carefully made her way into the doorway of the kitchen. Looking over, she could see her mother's head poking up over the top of the table. Her body shook, and Ada knew she was the one crying.

She laid the fire poke on top of the table, startling her mother, who practically jumped to her feet and stared at Ada with bloody hands clasped over her mouth and red rings around her eyes.

"What did you do?" Ada asked as she caught sight of a body in front of her. The body was laying in pool of blood, and she already knew who it was. "TJ?" She gasped, running over and kneeling next to him. She turned him over and was shocked to find a knife sticking out of his abdomen. She looked up at Veronica as she held her brother's 6'0 frame tightly in her arms. "What the hell did you do?!"

Veronica sobbed. "H.. he fought back..."

Ada stared up at her like the most disgusting thing she had ever seen. "You tried to attack him?! Have you no common sense?! You shouldn't attack people in the first place, let alone your own kids! He's 23, and the only reason he lives here is because you steal his money! You are the most horrible person I have ever met!"

Suddenly, Veronica bolted, but Ada didn't care. She pressed two fingers down on TJ's neck, trying to feel for a pulse. "Come on," She cried. "Come on, TJ!" Her yelling didn't help, however. After searching his neck and wrist, she was left with nothing. "No," She whispered.

She stared down at him in front of her, frozen in her place. She had no idea what to do.

Ada was startled out of her stupor when she heard a scream. Looking up immediately at the recognizable voice, she carefully put TJ's body on the ground and ran towards the screams. "Kassidy!" She yelled back.

Busting open a door, Ada found Kassidy being beaten hard by Veronica. "Shut up!" Veronica growled. "No one can hear you!"

"Get off of her!" Ada screamed, tackling her mother to the ground as Kassidy scooted her battered body back into the corner of the room, cowering. "Don't you dare touch her!"

Suddenly, her mother smiled up at her, making Ada stare down at her, remembering that sincere smile from when she was very young, and hadn't seen it in years. Then, Veronica disappeared, causing Ada to fall over. She looked all over the floor they were on, but saw no trace of her ever being there.

"Kassidy?" She asked carefully as she got up onto her knees to peer over the bed, but Kassidy was also gone. "Kass?" She called out, standing up and walking over through the bedroom door.

~PRAG~

"Ka..." Ada was cut off when she found herself standing outside of Ranger Ops. Strangely enough, it looked a bit different. She walked towards the door when it suddenly opened, letting a group of seven teens exit.

"Dude, training was crazy today," One of the teens, clad in blue with tan skin, brown hair, and brown eyes, said. "We're definitely gonna be sore tomorrow." He chuckled.

A girl, clad in gold with light skin, dark auburn hair, and blue eyes, nodded. "Yeah, but that's what it's like to be a ranger."

"I wonder why Ben and Alicia cut our session short," Another girl, in pink with pale skin, short blonde hair, and blue eyes, said, looking to the others. "I mean, we usually stay for another half an hour, at least."

"Who knows," A boy, clad in silver with light skin, brown hair, and blue eyes shrugged. "Let's just be glad for the break."

Ada watched them continue to interact, surprised that they couldn't see her. She reached out to tap one of them on the shoulder, but her hand went right through the shoulder. She gasped as the teens continued to walk away as if nothing had happened.

Before the door nearby closed, Ada decided to stop watching them and slipped inside. As she got inside, she immediately heard talking coming from the kitchen area, where the door was closed. She walked over carefully and reached for the doorknob, only for her hand to go through it.

Frowning, Ada took a moment to think before awkwardly trying to step through the door. To her surprise, she ended up on the other side as if she was a ghost. Surprising her yet again, she looked towards the table to see herself, a two years younger version over herself, sitting at the table.

She stared in surprise and rounded the table to look at herself in shock. "Oh my god," She whispered, remembering this day as she watched Alicia, Ben, and Dr. Powers, Alicia's late father and the mentor of the Ancient Animal rangers, sitting across from herself, Nate, and Benny two years before.

"No way." She shook her head. "What the hell is going on here?"

"That's what I was wondering," A voice said, and she looked up to see Nate and Benny enter from the other room as well. These two were from present time, rather than the past. "What _is_ going on here?" Nate crossed his arms as the two walked over to join her in watching what was happening.

Younger Ada looked at her pendant. "So, I'll be the leader?" She asked, a small smile gracing her lips. "Because, I'm a red ranger, right?"

Dr. Powers sighed. "No, you three will be extra rangers who can be called upon whenever needed, or whenever you feel like it's necessary. Honestly, if the other five rangers could beat them, you wouldn't have to come at all."

The three looked disappointed. "Then why are you giving these to us?" 13 year old Benny crossed his arms. "If you don't need us, then what's the point?"

"We do need you," Alicia told them, leaning forward and gesturing for her father to let her talk. "Look, I know it sound like you guys are useless, and I know you probably thought you guys were going to be the main team, but that's not possible. I'll spare you the details, but just because we need some of the others before you guys. We still want you to help out."

"Do you accept?" Dr. Powers asked, he, Alicia, and Ben looking at the three.

After a bit of hesitation, the three from the present watched their past selves agree and begin to leave. Nate stared after himself as he left first. "You know, that really disappointed me," He said, sighing. "I thought I was going to be this hero that every knew would help them and save the world, but it's really up to Geo, Roger, and Cal."

Benny nodded. "I agree. I really thought I was gonna make a difference, but we're just the 'extra' rangers. No one that people notice except for when they first show up."

"I was disappointed too," Ada said. "But, you guys are wrong about the other things. We are heroes, and we do save the world. We make a difference. Without us, the others could be dead right now. We may not be the most important rangers of the group, but we're a team and we definitely all matter."

Nate and Benny looked at her, before she watched them fade into thin air. She looked all around herself as the area around her began to fall apart as well. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, having her eyelids feeling strangely heavy.

When she reopened them, she found herself laying in her bed, feeling a weight next to her as well. She looked over, pushing the scratchy sheets away a bit as she saw Kassidy laying in her bed. She smiled and ran her hands lightly through her sister's hair, making her smile in her sleep and snuggle deeper into the blankets.

Ada looked over, seeing the clock reading 5:30 AM, and got out of bed. After that, there was no way she could fall asleep. She was quite sure that what happened was a dream, though it all seemed so real - besides the part where she ended up in a new place every time she opened a door.

She walked through her doorway, smiling when she ended up in her hallway. She walked down said hallway and walked into the living room, her breath catching slightly seeing her brother sleeping on the couch. Watching him for a moment, she saw his chest moving up and down, signifying his life.

Ada ended up in the kitchen next, and decided to make herself a bit of breakfast. As she was waiting for it to cook, she leaned against the counter.

"Thank god it was just a dream," She whispered to herself. "Thank god."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Nate faces off against his worst fears in the next Fear Factor arc chapter.

 **Next Chapter Title:** Fear Factor Part VII

 **Sorry it took so long to get this out, I was deal with a few health problems and before that I was quite busy. Don't worry, though, because I'm still on track to end this in a month or so to be able to start my new stories!**

 **I'm going to explain a few things about this chapter, also. Ada's fear of cats was completely random, and just came up because I looked up common fears and this was on the list. Ada's selflessness inspired the second part, as well as showing that she had let go of her past relationship and was in love with Cal. The selflessness was only lightly touched on, and will definitely come up again.**

 **The third part was inspired because of her abusive mother, and her fear that she would go too far one day. Keep in mind that this is Ada's mind conjuring up these 'dreams', and you'll see more of the abuse Veronica really does in an upcoming chapter. Finally, the last part came on because I had thought about how the three became rangers in the past, and how they may not feel as useful as the others because that happened, but Geo, Roger, and Cal still became the main rangers.**

 **Anyways, here's the listing for upcoming chapters!**

 **Ep 23: Fear Factor Part VIII -** Benny focused.

 **Ep 24: The Heart Wants What It Wants Part I -** Roger and Benny focused. Crossover with Ancient Animals.

 **Ep 25: The Heart Wants What It Wants Part II -** Part two, Roger and Benny focused. Crossover with Ancient Animals.

 **Ep 26: Saviors -** Vi and Maya focused, as well as the rangers. Features major fight with TBA.

 **Ep 27: Under The Influence -** Ada focused.

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you guys very soon!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	24. Ep 22: Fear Factor Part VII

**Here's Nate's part! I hope you guys like it! As with Ada's part, there will be an ending with how the previous three became rangers, but it'll be from Nate's POV and more of what he thinks about the whole thing.**

 **Also, as with all of the Fear Factor chapters, the first fear will be completely random and will have nothing really to do with the character's personality.**

 **Oh, and the second part of this was not meant to offend anyone, but relates to Nate's personal feelings about his disorder. None of the offensive behavior or words are meant to hurt anyone, and I'm very sorry if it does.**

* * *

Nate took in a sharp breath as he woke up, but refused to open his eyes. It was the weekend, Nate was alone, and he wanted to sleep longer, despite not exactly knowing how long he had slept.

Light was glaring against his closed eyelids, making him turn over and pull the blankets over his head. When it was once again dark, he sighed in relief. His blankets were warm and very soft - obviously expensive.

His mother, Lisa, was a brain surgeon, and made a lot of money. As if that wasn't enough, his father was a successful defense attorney. They made more than enough money to live off of for not only their lifetime, but Nate's as well. However, an unfortunate side effect of this was that his parents were never around.

Nate was also an only child, leaving him alone most of the time in their enormous house. He had always felt lonely, but he was at least lucky enough to be good friend's with his neighbor, Tyler.

Tyler, along with his friends on the baseball team, the other rangers, and his girlfriend, should be enough, right? It really should, but it didn't keep Nate from feeling as if he was missing out on something he could have, but didn't. He wasn't greedy, and he understood that people were busy, but that doesn't mean he wasn't lonely.

When his friends couldn't hang out, he was alone. He hardly ever saw his parents, and, when he did, they were still busy. Sometimes, when he was alone, he would go down to the batting cages and practice for baseball.

After thinking for a while, Nate knew he wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep and opened his eyes. When he did, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder, and froze. Since his parents were always busy, he new that they weren't home. Even if they were, they certainly wouldn't be waking him up for anything.

He shifted slowly over to face whoever it was, keeping the blankets over his head. He touched the pendant around his neck and pulled the blankets back. When he did, he gasped in shock and ended up falling off the bed as he looked back up.

Standing in front of him was a clown - though this wasn't really a normal clown that you would see at a children's birthday party. It almost looked like one of Terra's aliens, but Nate wasn't sure what it was.

Nate immediately grabbed his pendant from around his neck and pulled it off, only for it to disappear as he did so. He looked at his hand in shock, and the clown monster laughed at him.

Jumping to his feet, he looked around the room for anything to use to fight off the monster, but slowly, everything was disappearing. "What the hell is going on?" He whispered to himself as he slowly backed away from the monster, who continued to walk closer to him.

The clown monster threw a punch at him but Nate ducked out of the way and tackled the monster by it's feet, before pinning it to the ground. He punched the monster almost frantically before he realized all he was punching turned into air.

Nate pushed himself back onto the ground and took a few deep breaths. "What was that?" He breathed out in shock, before turning quickly was he heard his door open. He didn't see anyone behind it, but he got up slowly and exited the room.

 **~Cue Opening 3~**

When he exited the room, he expected to find himself in the hallway of his house, potentially with another monster, but, instead, he was standing in the middle of the gym at school, with the whole school sitting at the bleachers. It was obvious he was in the middle of a rally.

The principal of the school, Ms. Lawton, approached him with a microphone in her hand. She put her other hand on his shoulder as she stood next to him and began speaking to the school.

"Today, students, we have another student, Nathan Giles, standing before you to speak on behalf of his _embarrassing_ learning disorder calling dyslexia," She, and the two thousand students in the room, burst out into laughter, much to Nate's surprise and horror. Ms. Lawton shoved the microphone into his hands. "Take it away," She muttered, patting him on the back as she ran to join the other teachers at the side of the room.

Nate held the microphone in his hands as he looked around, seeing other students laughing and pointing fingers at him, as well as calling him stupid and even retarded.

He was speechless. Looking around, he could even see the other rangers laughing at him, including Kay, whom he had told in confidence. Nate couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?!" He exclaimed angrily into the microphone, making everyone instantly quiet. "I was born with this disorder - I can't help that I have it! Oh, and it's not _embarrassing_!" He yelled, mocking the principal's voice. "It also doesn't make me stupid! Just because I need a little extra time to understand certain things doesn't mean that I'm an idiot! The idiot are the people that mock me for something I can't help!"

He opened his mouth to continue, but all of the people were suddenly disappearing into thin air. After he was alone, all of the bleachers pulled back into the wall and folded themselves up, and the microphone disappeared.

Almost instantly, he was alone with nothing in the room but himself.

"What the hell is actually going on?!" He yelled, though, as expected, he didn't get an answer.

Nate sighed and looked over to see one of the gym doors open to the outdoors, though it looked a bit strange - almost like it was a backdrop in a movie, and it wasn't actually there. He walked over carefully, and put his hand through the door.

The minute he did, his hand seemed to be sucked into the air, and he tried to pull back in shock, though something was stopping him. The more he struggled, the more he felt pulled down.

Suddenly, he was pulled completely through.

~PRAG~

Nate landed hard on a white, marble floor, gasping as the air was knocked out of his lungs. He groaned as he rolled over onto his back, and then frowned as he looked up at the also completely white ceiling. Looking to his left, he found the wall being the same, though, there was a door on this wall.

Pushing himself to his feet, Nate walked over and touched the door handle, but instantly had to pull away when it burned him.

"What the hell is going on?" He repeated, for the third or fourth time.

He backed away from the door before turning towards the other side of the room, seeing it look the same as the side he was on. Nate walked forward slowly, trying to get to the other side of the room, but he was stopped by a large glass wall in the middle of the room.

Nate touched the glass with his fingertips, leaving the prints on the otherwise flawless window as he watched the scene before him play out.

The door on the other side of the room opened, letting a group of men, dressed in all white with masks over their faces, drag a few people Nate didn't recognize into the other side, obviously against their wills.

After the men threw them to the side, the group of people stood up and looked around, confused as to what was going on. One woman even began to pound on the door, screaming at the top of her lungs for help.

As Nate watched them, he began to wonder what exactly was going on. He tapped on the wall, startling the people. The woman who was screaming sat down and began to sob uncontrollably as one of the men looked at the glass in confusion.

By the look on his face as he searched the glass, and by the way he never fully looked Nate in the face, Nate presumed that the people on the other side of the glass could not see him.

 _One way glass?_ Nate thought. _Maybe they can hear me. I can hear them._

"Can you hear me?" He called. None of the people seemed to be able to hear his voice. "Anyone?" He pounded on the glass, which did, indeed, attract their attention once again.

Just as he did so, however, there was a sudden sound of rushing water coming from the other side of the glass. "What is that?" Another woman, almost as frantic as the other was, asked, looking to the other people standing around her.

Her question was quickly answered when water began to pour out of large holes in the top of the walls around other side of the room. Nate's side remained dry, though this didn't stop his from clenching his fists in anger and horror as the water began to slowly rise up on the other side, causing the occupants to scream in fear.

Nate began furiously pounding on the glass, hoping to break it to allow the water to have more space to take up, therefore giving them all more time to figure out what to do.

"You can't save them, you know." A voice came from behind him, making him spin around in shock to see Maya leaning against the wall behind him.

He frowned at her. "How can you say that? I have to! I can't let innocent people die!"

Maya crossed her arms. "I can say that because it's true. There's no way possible of getting into the other side of that room no matter what you do. You have to stop."

"I have to try, Maya." He growled, punching and kicking the glass as hard as possible as the water had already made it's way up to halfway of the other room.

After a while, the water already filled the room, and Nate slumped to the floor with tears streaming down his face. Maya walked over and kneeled next to him. "You can't save everyone, Nate. I'm sorry."

"But..." Nate's words were lost. He had no idea what to say. "I.. I had to try anything. I just..."

"I know," Maya nodded. "Just take a deep breath and let it go."

"Let it go?! I just saw four people drown to death and I couldn't help them, but I should just let it go?!" Nate stood up angrily. "How can I do that?!"

Maya sighed. "By accepting that this wasn't your fault."

He looked down at this statement, and when he looked back up, Maya was gone. Nate turned to the room, and it was still full of water, but there was nobody there. He then looked towards the door, finding it wide open. Sighing, he walked over and through the door.

~PRAG~

Nate now found himself standing inside the kitchen at Ranger Ops, though it looked a bit different than the Ranger Ops he knew of now. It was a bit darker, and there were two smaller tables instead of one large one.

He frowned as he looked around, before jumping in shock when the door opened. He was about to say something to Alicia and Ben as they walked in, but he found himself too shocked to speak when Ada, Benny, and himself, albeit younger versions of themselves, walked into the room. Dr. Powers, Alicia's father, was also there.

They all sat down at the table, the younger rangers looked around in awe.

"What the hell?" He whispered, surprised when no one heard him or made any indication that they could see him. It was almost as if he wasn't there.

After Alicia, Dr. Powers, and Ben explained things to them, 16 year old Ada touched the owl pendant around her neck, which shined crimson when it reflected against the light in the room. "So, I'll be the leader?" She asked, smiling. "Because, I'm the red ranger, right?"

Nate moved around the room to look at Dr. Powers' face as he spoke. He looked disappointed, knowing how the three young teens would take this. "No, you three will be extra rangers that can be called upon whenever you're needed, or whenever you feel like it's necessary. Honestly, if the other five rangers could beat them, you wouldn't be needed at all."

Even two years later, Nate's face scrunched up in disappointment. Looking at the younger versions of himself, Ada, and Benny, he could see the looks on their faces as well, none of them being happy. While he could see his face looking the same as the one he was making, Ada seemed rather angry at this, and Benny seemed distraught, almost sad even.

"Why are you even giving us these, then?" Benny asked, gesturing sadly towards his morpher. "What's the point if we're useless?"

Alicia noticed their expressions immediately and gestured to her father to allow her to speak. "We do need you. I know what it sounds like, but you guys aren't useless. I also know you guys probably though you would be the main team, but that's not possible. I'll spare you the boring detail, but we need the others before you. That doesn't mean we don't want you three, also."

"Will you except this responsibility?" Dr. Powers asked, as he, Alicia, and Ben looked amongst the three.

Of course they accepted. Obviously. How could they deny the world three _potential_ saviors? It didn't work that way. Once you're chosen, it's usually you or no one - there's no real choice in the matter.

Even though Nate loved being a ranger and helping people, he could definitely admit that. Even if he didn't love it, he didn't have a choice. It was him and the others, or Terra won. No exceptions.. unless one of them died.

Nate watched the younger versions of the last three rangers accept and exit one by one, himself going first and Benny last. He didn't exactly know Ada or Benny's opinions on the matters, but he always felt like the fact that he wasn't like Geo, Roger, or Cal had hit him the hardest, and still did whenever he watched them fight together.

They were the main team. The ones everyone looked up to because they had been there since the beginning. At the same time, however, that didn't really matter to Nate, as far as gauging himself as a hero.

Despite what anyone else thought, Nate _knew_ in his heart that he was a hero. A hero that would help save the world. That, in itself, was enough to make him feel good about his status, even compared to the main three rangers.

Suddenly, the image around him began to fade away as his eyes were suddenly pulled shut. He reopened them immediately a moment later, slightly shocked, and found himself laying back in his bed at home.

"Hello?" He looked over to see Kay knock lightly on the his door, which was wide open. "Hey, what are you doing? I said I would be here at eleven so we could get to training."

Nate looked up at her, before nodding. "Oh yeah, training. Sorry, I slept in."

Kay chuckled. "Well, I can see that," She walked over to sit on his bed, looking him over. "Are you okay?"

After a moment of thinking, he looked over at her and smiled. "Yeah. Especially now that you're here," He leaned over and kissed her.

"Why so cheesy?" She smirked.

Nate shrugged. "I'm just glad you're here. I get lonely in this big house by myself, you know?"

"Yeah," Kay watched him get up and walk over to his closet to grab a change of clothes out of his pajamas. "Yeah, I do."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Benny faces off against his worst fears in the final chapter of the Fear Factor Arc.

 **Next Chapter Title:** Fear Factor Part VIII

 **So, I have some things to tell you guys, but, don't worry, it's not bad or anything. I recently had an idea for this story (can't tell you because it would be spoilers if it works out), though, like I just said, I'm not sure if it would work out very well. Basically, I'll still be done by the deadline I've set for myself, but, after Benny's fear factor, I won't be uploading until I've written out all of the other chapters and worked out the kinks to make sure it's the best work I can provide for you guys. It won't take too long, though, and should be done, like I said, by my deadline (End of August - Early September).**

 **Also, I just started school yesterday, so I can't focus on my stories exclusively anymore, which means, until I finish this, my other two stories may not be updated. Hopefully this will not be the case, but I'm warning you just in case it is.**

 **Last thing is that I was thinking about how Power Rangers kind of has it's own universe(s), and so do my stories. My stories aren't actually in one big universe, but a few really. Ancient Animals, Animal Guardians, Rainbow Fighters (next installment), and more future projects are in one universe; Dino Squad, Data Surge, Guardians of the Galaxy, Energy Warriors (also next installment), and more are in another; and finally Emergency Responders and _potentially_ another are in their own universe. This is why I didn't do a crossover with Data Surge, and the crossover with Dino Squad and Ancient Animals is kind of complicated, but I'll say it's because I didn't have this realization until a few months ago.**

 **Sorry for this really long author's note, but I just wanted you guys to know these things. Since I don't know how the idea will work out, I will not be putting out the descriptions of future chapters as they could change at anytime. Anyways, I hope you guys liked Nate's portion of this Arc! See you soon!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	25. Ep 23: Fear Factor Part VIII

**Here's Benny's part! As usual, the first fear is completely random and will have nothing to do with the character's personality. Oh, and this will also have Benny's perspective on when he, Ada, and Nate first became rangers.**

 **Also, this is gonna be a bit different from the other Fear Factors, which is why this chapter is so long, if you were wondering. In between Benny's dream sequences, there will be a few scenes from the other rangers in the real world. Hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **Nicole Yun is portrayed by Jamie Chung**

* * *

Benny rolled over in his bed, not being able to sleep, similarly to several nights he had experienced in the last two years. He would go to lay down, and would toss and turn most of the night before getting an hour of sleep and then getting up to go through his day.

Sometimes, he would fall asleep, but would have nightmares throughout the night, and would wake up, unable to go back to sleep. Sometimes he would just be thinking too much to fall asleep.

In these dreams, Benny would be tied down while he saw his older sister, Nicole, being attacked by and unseen force. Sometimes it would come towards Benny, but Nicole would always step up to stop it.

Nicole went missing two years prior, and no one has found any word on her since. It was almost as if she dropped off of the face of the Earth. One day, she was talking to Benny and her parents on the phone, the next, she was gone without a trace.

After persistent bullying, Nicole was forced to move to Welch County High from the neighboring town of Nessmond, where their parents lived, and where Benny lived before moving in with his brother, William, sister-in-law, Michelle, and their twins, Natalie and Kyle, who were one year old.

She lived with their aunt, but she hadn't seen Nicole since she stopped contacting the rest of the family. Benny hoped she ran away, but it was unlikely. If she had, she would've at least called him and told him she was safe, but she never did.

Benny and Nicole were always close, and, if she did run away, that definitely hurt Benny's feelings. He often wondered if her had done anything wrong to make her not want to talk to him again. He wondered if maybe she didn't have anyway to contact him, but that was also unlikely.

He knew exactly what was the most likely thing that happened, but he could never bring himself to actually admit that it could've happened. Benny could never admit that his sister might be... He couldn't do it. Not unless he knew for sure. Even then, he might not even believe it.

It was too unreal to even think about. Benny squeezed his eyes shut further and curled up in a ball at the thought. That couldn't happen.

Since it was two years later, the police had let go of the case. It was cold, and would be shut until the end of time because once a case is shut, unless more evidence pops up, which it wouldn't, it won't be opened again.

Being a ranger, who always destroyed their monsters before letting go, Benny couldn't believe that the police had just let this case go so easily.

Benny sometimes contemplated if maybe, just maybe, the police actually knew about something but kept it quiet. That would be quite corrupt of them, but he wouldn't necessarily put it past them.

After thinking for long enough, he decided he might as well get up. He pushed the blankets off and opened his eyes to looked over and see what time it was. As he did, he found himself enveloped in darkness.

Looking directly above him, only by three feet, was a ceiling, and, looking to the sides, both of the walls were right up against his mattresses.

"What the hell?" Benny pushed on the ceiling above him, seeing it act like a door and open partially, but when it did, dirt began to fall in, forcing Benny to close it immediately. He realized rather quickly what was happening, and gasped in shock. "I'm buried alive," He whispered, before pounding on the door. "Help! Is anyone up there?!"

Besides more dirt falling into the container he was in, nothing happened. However, he noticed something. He could hear dirt being moved on top of the container, almost like someone was in the process of burying him.

"Hell no," He growled pushing the door up with his feet, flinging it open and spraying dirt all over himself. He coughed and sat up, wiping the dirt from himself while also holding the door up with his hand.

He looked over and saw a shovel on the ground, but no person there. He stood up, and suddenly disappeared.

 **~Cue Opening 3~**

Nate, meanwhile, was at the batting cages in town with his neighbor and good friend, Tyler, who was cheering him on as he hit every single ball launched at him. Nate hit one particularly hard, and smiled as he heard it hit the other end of the fence.

"You're getting really good, Nate," Tyler patted on the fence, smiling at his friend. "I mean, you were good before, but now it's just crazy. You're definitely gonna go pro one day."

Nate chuckled. "If only."

Tyler waved his doubt off. "Don't even be like that. You know you're great, and that you're gonna continue to be. There's no way a scout wouldn't want you."

"Yeah, there is," Nate muttered, turning off the ball launcher, turning towards Tyler. "If I don't get my grades up, I won't be able to play baseball next year. If I can't do that, there's no chance of a scout ever seeing me."

His friend shrugged. "You never know. I mean, it's not just about grades, you know? You have the skills and drive to get you there. You can make it."

"Hopefully you're right." Nate leaned the bat against the fence and hung up his helmet as he exited the cage to allow the next person their turn. "I mean, if the school would help me out more, that would be helpful."

"Well, if you never tell them about your dyslexia, how are they gonna know how to help you, Nate?" Tyler asked, not unkindly. "I'm sorry to be blunt, but it's true. I know you might be worried that people will look at you differently or something, but, chance are, they really won't. Plus, you'll be happy you got the extra help you need now in the future."

Nate looked over at him. "You're right, aren't you?"

"Probably," Tyler pursed his lips and nodded.

As Nate packed up, and Tyler went to grab some things from the lockers, a man came over and tapped Nate on the shoulder. He looked over at the man. "Yes?"

The man smiled, shaking Nate's hand. "I couldn't help but notice the swing you got there. I'm Carlos Bellisario, a scout for baseball, and I was wondering if you would like to talk about an opportunity to travel for the sport, and potentially get into professional right out of high school?"

"Are you serious?" Nate shook his hand back, stunned. "I'm Nathan Lee Giles, but I go by Nate. What do I do?"

~PRAG~

Ada stayed in her room, holding her sister tightly against her as they sat against the door, listening as their mother pounded on the outside of the door, demanding to be let in. Every time she hit the door, Ada would clutch Kassidy tighter, hearing her sister whimper against her.

Hearing a fifteen year old reduced to tears like this would make anyone's blood boil, but Ada's so much more so. She was so blindly angry, but knew she had to be a strong force for her sister to be able to turn to. If Ada fought back too hard, she knew she would scare her sister in her already vulnerable state.

Continuing to listen, their mother stopped pounding on the door as they heard TJ come home from a job he had that day.

"What the hell are you doing?" TJ yelled, surprising both of his sisters, who usually didn't hear him yell. "Get away from them!" He growled.

A struggle was heard, before a body hit the floor, before the pounding began to reappear.

Kassidy cried into Ada's shirt. "What happened to TJ?" She asked, looking up at Ada's face with tear stained eyes.

"He'll be okay," Ada reassured her, kissing the top of her head. "TJ's a lot bigger and stronger than mom, okay? She can't hurt him too bad."

"Get away from them!" They heard again, TJ having obviously gotten up from the floor. They heard someone else fall to the side before a strong force pushed it's way into the room. Ada was about to fight back, when she saw her brother. "Calm down," He told her as he sat down against the door with them as they listened to their mother try to get up.

"Are you alright? You're bleeding," Ada let go of Kassidy with one hand and reached up to touch a bloody cut on TJ's forehead.

TJ pushed her hand down gently. "I'm fine, and I actually have some really good news."

Ada and Kassidy gave him doubtful looks. "Really?" Ada asked, putting her arm back around Kassidy. "What is it?"

"I found an apartment for us to get away from mom," TJ told them, giving them hopefully and reassuring smiles.

"No way," Ada smiled, and rubbed Kassidy's back. "Are we really gonna get out of here?"

TJ nodded. "Yeah, but there's one small problem," He chuckled nervously. "It's gonna take a bit of traveling. The place I found is a while away from here."

As Kassidy launched herself out of Ada's arms to hug TJ, Ada leaned further against the wall and looked off with a sigh.

~PRAG~

Benny suddenly found himself standing in the middle of a hallway at school, surprisingly, with a large group of people surrounding him. He frowned, looking around the group as they all stared him down.

"What's going on?" He asked, looking amongst the people around him, noting that most of the people around him didn't actually know him, nor did he know them.

One boy shoved him hard from behind, making him stumble to the side. If he had been expecting it, the hit wouldn't have made him move much at all, given the amount of force he was used to dealing with from monster attacks. "You know what's going on, loser!" The boy yelled.

The teal ranger turned around to look at the boy, confused. "What's your problem?" He asked, frowning.

Another person from the group shoved him, this time making him fall to the ground. "Why don't you ask your sister, weirdo!"

"Excuse me?" Benny's eyes narrowed, looking at the boy in front of him. He was tall, had dark brown hair with natural dirty blonde streaks, and blue eyes. As Benny continued to stare at him, he had the strangest feeling that he had seen him before. "Who are you?!" Benny yelled, standing up to face the boy as everyone else quieted down.

The boy looked him over. "You must remember me, Benny."

"Who are you?" Benny repeated, speaking with such calm anger in his voice that it sent chills through the room.

"You'll find out eventually," The boy patted him on the cheek, but Benny smacked his hand down.

Benny growled, "What does that mean?"

Suddenly, the boy disappeared, leaving him in the group of people who began to shove him and call him names, taking advantage of his shocked stupor. One girl shoved him so hard that he hit the floor and slid against the lockers, allowing for the group of bullies to gang up against him.

As the bullies did so, Benny shoved a few of them back and stood strong against them. "What the hell is wrong with you people?! Back off!" The people stopped and stood there, but didn't move. "Don't you have better things to do than bully people?"

As fast as the bullies appeared, they disappeared. Benny looked around with his arms out in shock. "What is this?" He asked, crossing his arms as he looked around. One of the door at the end of the hall was open, and he walked towards it. Taking one look back, he walked through.

~PRAG~

Kay was sitting at home in her room, studying for an upcoming AP chemistry test she had. Even though she was sure she would ace it, given her previous scores and knowledge of the subject, she wanted to make sure she was caught up just in case.

The test she had wasn't only going to have a written portion, but it was going to involve doing an experiment in the front of the class as well. Kay knew she would do fine, but the added pressure of doing the experiment in front of the class worried her.

She was never good under that kind of pressure. She was always ridden with stage fright, no matter how much she tried to play it off. Once, when she was very young, only about three, she began to cry during a preschool play she was in.

Even though she was quite young, she still found herself a bit embarrassed about it.

Shaking her head lightly to clear the thoughts, she continued to read about the ingredients needed to complete the experiment she was going to do.

A few minutes later, she was brought away from her thoughts once again when she heard her bedroom door open from behind her. Kay looked over to see her younger brother, Hunter, walk into the room, smiling widely.

She smiled back. 'What are you smiling about?' She signed to him.

'You need to come downstairs to find out,' He signed back.

Kay raised an eyebrow. 'Is that so? Do you have a surprise for me or something?'

Hunter smirked. 'You'll see. Come on,' He grabbed her arm and pulled her down the stairs, before turning to her. 'Close your eyes,' He signed to her. She nodded and complied, allowing him to direct her into the kitchen. He then tapped on on the shoulder, signalling her to open her eyes.

When she did, she audibly gasped. "Dad?!" She exclaimed.

Standing in the kitchen before her was Walter Lucas, her father. He often wasn't home due to his job as an FBI agent, which took him across the country to solve cases. Kay hadn't seen him in quite a while.

"Oh my god," Was all she could say.

Walter came over and gave her a tight hug, gesturing to the front porch. "I want to talk to you about something, Kennedy. I think you'll like it a lot." Kay gave him a look as he directed her on the porch.

"What is it?" She asked, sitting down on the porch swing with him.

He smiled at her. "I was thinking about how I'm never around, and how we never get to spend anytime together, when I came up with an idea. There's an amazing school in Washington D.C. that can help you focus a lot on science, and, since I'm gonna be leaving for a year, I was thinking you could come with me."

Kay stared at him, a breathless chuckle escaping her lips. "Oh," She said, speechless. "Really?"

"Yeah," Walter patted her on the shoulder affectionately. "What do you think?"

~PRAG~

Tanzo sat out in his garage, waiting for a few of his friends to show up. He and his group of friends were in a small punk rock band, which really hadn't played many places, but the places they did play were very successful. They even had a few original songs.

In the band were his friends Lainey, Hector, Moe, and himself. Hector, one of his oldest friends, played the drums while Mo, one of Hector's old friends and Tanzo's newer friend, played the keyboard. Lainey was the only female member of the group who sang full time, and played a bit of acoustic guitar on the side. Tanzo, himself, played both the electric and acoustic guitars.

He smiled as he tuned his guitar, thinking back to when he taught Lainey a few notes she wasn't too good at. He met her rather recently, but the two had hit it off rather quickly.

Not only could Tanzo call her a very good friend, but he could also admit that he thought she was quite attractive as well. She had lightly tanned skin, dirty blonde hair, and dark gray eyes. She was a bit short, standing at only 5'1, and was of average size.

The usually outgoing Tanzo was rather shy when it came to Lainey, though, he knew he shouldn't be too worried. Lainey was very nice, and wasn't turned away by his humor or occasionally 'overwhelming' optimism, as some would put it. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it.

The hard thing was, however, determining whether or not Lainey was actually interested in him, or if she thought of him just as a friend. He could never ask her something like that, though, because, if she didn't think of him that way, it could very well make things awkward between them.

"Dude!" Tanzo looked up when he saw his band members rush in, Hector looking quite excited. "You'll never guess what just happened!"

Tanzo put his guitar down and stood up, smiling. "We got signed to a record label?"

Hector nudged him. "Close! Some guy saw us preforming the other night and he said he's willing to put us on tour!"

"Tour?!" Tanzo exclaimed excitedly. "Where to?"

"All over the country!" Lainey exclaimed, jumping up to hug him. "Isn't this great? We're gonna get to travel all over the country, and make music!"

Tanzo held Lainey in a hug, his face going sour when he realized something. "Yeah, this is great," He chuckled humorlessly.

"What's wrong?" Mo asked as Lainey pulled away to looked at him. "Aren't you excited for this? I mean, it's something we've been dreaming about for so long."

"Plus, the guy said that if the tour was successful, he might sign us to a _real_ label!" Lainey tugged excitedly on his arm. "Wouldn't that be just amazing?! I couldn't imagine a better life!"

"Yeah, no, it's great." Tanzo nodded, forcing a smile as the other members cheered. "It's great." He muttered.

~PRAG~

Benny suddenly found himself standing in the kitchen at Ranger Ops, immediately seeing the difference in the way it looked. Sitting at one of the smaller tables, ones that had been replaced by a larger one, he saw himself, Ada, and Nate sitting across from Alicia, Ben, and the late Dr. Powers. He almost instantly knew what he was seeing.

 _This is the day Ada, Nate, and I became rangers, isn't it?_ Benny thought to himself. _God, I look so young. I was only thirteen, but I was so excited when I found out about it._

After Alicia, Dr. Powers, and Ben explained things to them, a 16 year old Ada touched the owl pendant around her neck, which shined crimson when it reflected against the light in the room. "So, I'm gonna be the leader?" She asked, smiling. "I'm the red ranger, right?"

Benny stared at her, feeling as if the world was put on pause. _Wow, she looks so hopeful and excited to be a part of the team. She, and Nate and I, are about to get so disappointed._

Then, the teal ranger looked to Dr. Powers, seeing his face contort in a cringe. "No, you three will be extra rangers that can be called upon whenever you're needed, or whenever you feel like it's necessary. Honestly, if the other five rangers could beat them, you wouldn't be needed at all."

The three all looked at him, obviously very disappointed. Ada seemed angry, almost, Nate was so devastated, and Benny was sad. Even two years later, Benny felt a pang of sadness bubble up inside of him as he watched this memory play out. It was almost insane to hear that they were going to be rangers, but would might not ever be needed.

 _Why would they even call upon us if we might not even be needed?_ Benny thought bitterly.

His younger self voiced this opinion as well. "Why are you even giving us these, then?" He asked, gesturing sadly towards his morpher. "What's the point if we're useless?"

We do need you." Alicia stepped in, gestured to her father to allow her to take over. "I know what it sounds like, but you guys aren't useless. I also know you guys probably though you would be the main team, but that's not possible. I'll spare you the boring detail, but we need the others before you. That doesn't mean we don't want you three, also."

"Will you accept this responsibility?" Dr. Powers asked, as he, Alicia, and Ben looked amongst the three.

 _How could we not accept it, Dr. Powers? It's either us, or the world as we know it is gone._ Benny crossed his arms. He knew that he didn't have a choice in the matter, but he also knew that, no matter if he had a choice or not, he still would have accepted it.

Benny truly liked being a ranger, despite the injuries and various problems that could come with it, he did. He loved helping others and saving people. It honestly made him feel on top of the world with joy when he did. It always made his day to do things like that.

Even though he could sometimes feel like less than the other main rangers, he always knew he would be an important part of the team. He never knew what the other rangers were gonna be like until he met them, but he hoped he would make some great friends, which he had so far.

Despite everything that could turn most others away, he was quite glad he became a ranger.

Just when he thought he would be moving on, like he had been so far, someone came into the room after the three younger rangers had left. It was the boy he saw in the previous portion of his dream.

Benny felt himself begin to fade away when he heard Alicia say his name, "Keith."

~PRAG~

Cal sat in her living room, curled on on the couch sketching in her sketchbook with a blanket thrown over her legs. Her mother had recently gotten her a new one after she had completely used up the other one, and Cal was nearly ecstatic when she got the new one.

For almost as long as she could remember, Cal had been ridden with very bad social anxiety, which gave her quite bad panic attacks more often than not. Since she became a ranger, they have lessened out, but they're still there.

She wasn't exactly sure why they lessened, potentially from the fact that Cal now had a group of very good friends that she knew she could trust and who could help her, but they did. All she knew for sure was that she definitely didn't mind that they came less and less.

Before, they would come so often she would sometimes have to miss school because she was unable to handle the feeling. Whenever she had bad days like that, or even when she didn't, Cal would always draw to help herself calm down and focus on something else for the time being.

They might've come back right after, but, at least for the moments when she was very focused on her work, she was alright. Her mother, who was a therapist, had also let the school know that if she was having a panic attack, she should be allowed to pull out her sketchbook to help her calm down and be able to get through the day.

Despite the fact that Cal didn't really like it when many people knew about her anxiety, she was grateful for the help she had in that area. Thankfully for her as well, the teachers never brought attention to it so the other students didn't either.

Well, most of them didn't. For her whole life, Cal had always been a victim of bullying. Her mother, Rebecca, had suggested that her anxiety could be a result of that, mostly since it didn't run in her family, but she doubted that that would be the cause. While it was a trigger, for sure, her anxiety came without that as well. Then again, that might not mean anything.

Cal looked down at her drawing, thinking about what she should add to it. Currently, she was drawing a portrait of Ada to give to her as a present on their next date. So far, it was coming out really well and realistically. While Cal was never one to be cocky, she had to admit that she had done quite a good job.

"Callie," Rebecca called as she entered the room, her high heels clicking against the hardwood floors of the house.

Cal looked over her shoulder and watched her mom enter. "Yeah, mom?"

"I have some bad news," Rebecca sat down in a chair across from her. "Your grandmother, Ruthie - my mother - she's not doing too well right now. She's pretty sick."

"What?" Cat sat up straight and put her pencil and sketchbook on the table. "No way, what's going on? Is she gonna be okay?"

"We think so, but she's gonna need some help for a while." Rebecca told her, sighing. "I, unfortunately, can't leave work or leave you alone, so I was wondering if you might want to go over to help her out until she's back on her feet? We would get a nurse, but she really doesn't have the money for it and I think she would really like to see you."

Cal nodded, without even thinking about it. "Of course I will." She said, before she had a realization. She knew she couldn't tell her mother, and decided to play it off. "Umm.. how am I gonna go to school, do you know?"

"Oh, there's a wonderful catholic school down the street from your grandmother's house," Rebecca smiled. "It's an all-girls school, but I don't think that should be a problem for you."

She frowned. "We're not catholic."

Her mother chuckled. "We're not, but your grandmother is. Either way, I'm so glad you're doing this for her. I know she'll really appreciate it sweetie," Rebecca stood up and kissed her daughter on the cheek before walking towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, no problem," Cal said as she looked towards the morpher on her wrist. "No problem."

~PRAG~

Roger sat at Carlyle's Diner by himself, watching the cook making food behind the counter. He didn't really know what compelled him to come to the diner, besides the fact that he had really nowhere else to go.

Since things had gotten worse with his brother, and with his parents, he had become quite a homebody and felt cooped up in the house. He knew it probably wasn't the best idea to leave Chris alone at home in his condition, but he was asleep when Roger left, making the black ranger hope he would remain that way until he got back.

His parents had gone out to a doctor's appointment for the baby, which, as they found out, was a boy. He heard that they were planning on naming him Isaiah, though, he only heard that in passing, so he couldn't be too sure.

Thinking about that baby, and what Chris said, he couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be an older brother, let alone one to a child he was practically going to be raising with his parents always traveling for work.

It was unreal to him that he was going to have a younger brother. When he was younger, he would always hear kids who were only children talking about how they found out their parents were having babies. He always imagined himself as being the younger sibling only, and never being in their position. He was always that baby in relation to the kid, which, in his case, was Chris.

He had been thinking about asking Chris about how it was like when he found out about him and for advice, but a few things struck that idea down. First was that, when he was born, Chris was probably too young to remember it all too well. Second was that his brother seemed to be quite scarred in that area, considering the way he acted every time it was brought up, so he thought that probably wasn't a good idea.

There was also one more reason, though, this one was a bit different. While Roger obviously loved his older brother, he had to admit that there were times when Chris wasn't exactly a good brother. He understood the reasons Chris had for his actions, mostly, but that doesn't make a difference in the memories he has.

The third reason was that Roger wanted to be a good older brother to that baby - better than Chris had been to him. He wanted his younger brother to know that he could come and talk to him, and that they would be friends, as well as brothers, which was something Roger never felt with Chris.

Roger sighed, a small smile gracing his lips at the thought. His expression quickly turned into a scowl, however, when he imagined what it would be like in the future. Looking forward, all he saw was himself and his younger brother, but no Chris.

He couldn't even begin to imagine to know what it would feel like to potentially die at nineteen.

Just as he was trying to shake that idea from his head, his cellphone rang. Surprisingly, when he got it out of his pocket, the name on the screen read 'Mom' rather than 'Chris.'

"Hello?" He answered, putting down money for the coffee he had ordered and exited the restaurant.

On the other end, his mother seemed frantic. _"Roger, you have to meet us down at the hospital. Someone broke in the house.. it's really bad! Your brother..."_

"I'm coming, mom," Roger ran over to the car, immediately trying to cut his mother off. He knew it was important, but he didn't think he could stand to hear it. "I'm on my way."

~PRAG~

Geo sat in his father's apartment, looking around in surprise at how good and different it looked compared to the last time he had seen it, which was when he found his father in the bad state that put him in the hospital.

Noah, his father, was in the bathroom getting ready for the two to go out and get lunch before they went to get Noah's car fixed up. It wasn't exactly a father-son day, but Geo was just glad to be able to spend time with him.

Thinking about it, Geo found himself shocked. A few months back, he would've rejected Noah the moment he saw him, but things had changed now. They had got closer, and bonded over multiple things, one of which was hockey.

He had found out that, like him, Noah had always loved not only watching hockey, but playing it as well. He wasn't as good now, but they had decided to make a day to play it together on the ice rink in town, most likely in winter.

While he and his father seemed to have worked things out rather well, Geo did still hold a bit of resentment over the fact that his father left him and his mother before he was even born, but he had decided to keep that to himself instead of making an argument about it.

There were probably more than a few good reasons Noah could have for leaving him, but Geo wasn't interested in them. He knew that his father tried to explain it to him before, but he wasn't really listening too much. Geo was worried that, when he found out, it would change his perspective on their relationship, and potentially even ruin it.

It did bother him not to know much about it, but he felt that he was better off not knowing. His father had problems, and that was all. That was what he knew, and all he wanted to know.

Noah had tried to explain it to him more times than once, but most of the time Geo would deflect the conversation. He knew they would have to have the conversation eventually, but it definitely wasn't something he was looking forward to.

"Hey, Geo," Noah said as he came out of the bathroom, fully dressed and ready to go. "I wanted to talk to you about to something before we went."

Geo nodded. "Okay, what's up?"

"So, I know we've been getting closer, and I know your mom is cool with it, so I asked her if it was okay if you came with me for a year or so." Noah told him, causing Geo's jaw to drop. "I know, it's crazy, but I was thinking we could travel a bit, let you meet some of your other family members, stuff like that."

"Really?" Geo said, stunned at this offer. "That's a big step."

"Yeah, sorry if that's weird or something," Noah told him. "It's totally up to you, but, I just thought I should tell you that your mom said it was alright."

Geo stared at him, thinking for a minute as his other hand touched his morpher. "Can I tell you by the end of the day? I have to do something first."

~PRAG~

Benny finally found himself tied down suddenly to a table, looking out towards a green valley of grass. He tried to struggle to get free, but couldn't make it. Looking around him, he soon realized where he was.

"This isn't happening." He struggled harder against his binds when he looked over and saw her. He stared. "Nicole?" He whispered, and, surprisingly, she turned as if she had heard him.

"Benny," She looked different than she used to. Something was off. She wasn't wearing shoes, but she was wearing a very flowy, almost angelic looking, dress, which was something he had never seen her wear. Her hair was also down and flowing around her as well. Nicole walked towards him. "What are you doing here?" Her voice was softer than before.

"I don't know," He said as she cut him free and helped him off of the table. "Where is here? Nicole, what's going on?"

Nicole looked him over, looking almost like she was crying. "You're not actually here, are you?" She seemed to ask herself. "Do you know how you got here?"

"No," Benny shook his head, before reaching out to hug his sister. Shockingly, his hand went right through her. "What?" He choked out, backing away from her as if she had physically hurt him. "What's going on?" He asked again, more demanding.

She looked at him sadly. "Benny, I'm dead. I thought you knew that."

Benny stared at her, his mouth suddenly dry, leaving him unaware of what to say or do. "No.. no, that's impossible."

Nicole sighed. "I'm sorry, little brother. It is."

"No," Benny shook his head. "You're lying or.. or you're not Nicole or.. something - I don't know! You can't be dead! You can't be gone! You can't be..." Benny broke off as he dropped to his knees, his face contorted in anger, pain, and sadness. After a moment of sobbing, he looked back up at her, seeing her concerned look. "How did this happen?"

Suddenly, everything around them changed to a street in Welch County. There, he saw a group of people in suits similar to his. "The Ancient Animals rangers," Nicole told him. "The ones before you." She gestured to the two other rangers, who stood across from them; a brown ranger and a gray ranger. "The gray ranger is me."

Benny watched the fight ensue, and, after the rest of the rangers were knocked down, the red ranger stood up and went in. He watched in horror as the red ranger stabbed both of the rangers, killing them.

"No, no, no, no." Benny said, staring as the area around them changed back into a field. "That couldn't have happened. Power Rangers fight for good - they save people! Not kill them!"

Nicole looked down. "Not all rangers fight for good, Benny."

"Obviously not!" Benny exclaimed. "Did you not just see yourself get killed?!"

"I'm not talking about Keith," Nicole said, causing Benny to stiffen at the name, though she didn't notice and continued to talk. "I'm talking about me."

"Wait, what?" Whatever Benny was thinking about Keith disappeared as he heard that. "What are you talking about?"

Nicole took in a deep breath. "I was fighting for Terrible, not for good! I mean, come on, Benny, you saw that same scene. You saw how I fought against them. I'm not saying what Keith did was right - not at all, because it wasn't, but I guess he did what he thought he needed to do."

"You were evil?" He looked her over, feeling like he was looking at a stranger. "What happened, Nicole?"

She had a scowl on her face, not directed at him. "A lot of things. Things you wouldn't understand. At the time, I thought I was getting back at everybody for the way they treated me, but I was wrong. Terrible convinced me that what I was doing was just like what everyone was doing to me. He manipulated me because I was vulnerable - we all were." Nicole turned away from him. "I'm sorry."

He took a step towards her. "Nicole, I.. it's okay. I just.. miss you."

Nicole slowly turned back towards him. "I miss you too."

Then, she faded into the air, and Benny cried out. "No! No! Not this time! Please let me stay!" Unfortunately, it was too late. As he cried out, he shut his eyes tightly, and when he opened them, he was in his bedroom.

Benny sat up slowly, pulling his legs up to his chest. "No..." He sobbed into his knees. After remaining like this for quite a while, he suddenly looked up, eyeing the morpher on his wrist in the mirror in front of him. He then looked down at it. "No. I'm not doing this anymore!" He growled. "I'm not doing this."

~PRAG~

From Terra's ship, Valcon looked down to Earth, seeing the rangers all going through various things. He smirked.

"They're done," He whispered to himself. "They don't want to do this anymore. They're done!" He laughed in shock. "This is unbelievable."

"Valcon," A voice said from behind him. Without turning, he knew that it was Veenom. "Terra is in her rest."

Because of the spell Terrible put on Terra, she was forced to rest to make sure that the spell didn't wear off. Due to the fighting, she had not rested in a very long while, and all of the generals could see her breaking.

Just that morning, she tried to attack Veenom because she realized the truth. He knocked her unconscious, subjected her to her rest unwillingly. Once she was in it, however, she wouldn't reawaken until she was ready. It could take her away for months at a time.

Valcon nodded to Veenom. "So, how long do you think?"

"A year," Veenom shrugged. "What are we gonna do?"

Valcon was about to say something, when an idea popped into his head. "Nothing." He said instead. "We're gonna wait for our empress."

Veenom looked at him like he was insane. "You've gotta be joking me or something."

"I'm not," Valcon shook his head. "The rangers want to quit, we'll let them. We'll let them think that we've backed off, and, when Terra reawakens, we'll come back ten times stronger. Besides, I'm sure at least a few of them won't want to return."

"What did you do?" Veenom asked, looking the other general up and down. While he had always considered himself one of Terra's best men, Veenom had always felt uneasy around Valcon, who could be ruthless.

Valcon gestured to the side, where they could see Jamie washing blood off of his hands. "Well, I did a few things. I got a house available for the crimson ranger, made the teal have his nightmare, got the blue ranger's grandmother sick, talked to the pink ranger's father to get her to go to school in Washington DC, talked to a few agents showing off the yellow and silver ranger's talents. Oh, I also convinced the red ranger's father that it was a good idea to 'reconnect' with him on a road trip to see family."

"And, the black ranger?" Veenom crossed his arms.

The other general huffed out a laugh. "Jamie wanted to take care of that himself, I didn't do anything."

Veenom looked back at Jamie. "What did he do?"

"He killed somebody." Valcon smirked, crossing his arms as he looked back to Earth.

~PRAG~

Benny stormed into Ranger Ops, immediately making a beeline for the living room. When he got there, he saw most of the other rangers there, shouting over each other, though he wasn't sure if they were all arguing or not. Ben, Alicia, Vi, and Maya were also there.

"Hey!" Ben yelled, holding onto Alicia. He was still pretty beat up from the monster attack that let him in the hospital, but he wouldn't hesitate to defend his wife, as all of the rangers knew. His yell quieted everyone to whispers here and there. "Why don't we just talk one by one, huh?"

"Okay, let's do that," Benny said, speaking up before anyone else could. "Why didn't you guys tell me that my sister's dead?"

This completely quieted the entire room. Alicia looked up at him in shock. "What are you talking about?"

"Nicole Yun," Benny said. "The gray ranger - evil. That was my sister that your old red ranger _killed_."

Alicia and Ben looked at each other, before Alicia stood up to address him. Vi and Maya were watching in shock. "Benny, I swear, I didn't know that was your sister. I'm so sorry."

Benny backed away as she moved towards him. "Don't. I can't do this right now." He took his morpher off and put it on the coffee table. "I can't do this." He repeated, quieter as he looked around at most of the rangers and the two mentors. He shook his head before turning around to exit when Roger, the only ranger that wasn't there, slammed the doors open, attracting everyone's attention.

Alicia and Ben both stood up to see what was going on when a very distraught Roger came in, fumbling to get the morpher off of his wrist as well. His hands were shaking hard, and his face was stained with tears that were still flowing.

"Roger, what's going on?" Cal asked, standing up to help him, when he finally got the morpher off and threw it on the table.

"Are you alright?" Alicia asked as Ben made sure the morpher wasn't broken, while also watching the conversation.

Roger stared at them as if they had slapped him. "Are you serious?" He whispered, anger completely lacing his voice, though his eyes portrayed complete and utter despair instead. "Do I look okay?" He asked, looking around the room. No one spoke. "My brother is.. is dead." He choked out, shocking everyone. Cal moved towards him, but he put his hands up to stop. "Don't, Cal. I..." He took in a shaky breath. "I'm done."

"Where are you going?" Vi called, standing up, along with Maya. "You can't just leave when you're like this. Let us help you, or take you home, at least."

The black ranger stopped at her voice, prompting Maya to walk forward. "If you drove here, I'll drive you home - or walk, if you want."

He held up his car keys, letting her take them from him. "I drove." He whispered brokenly.

"Okay," Maya carefully put a hand on his shoulder, surprised when he let her. She turned to the others, mouthing to them, "I'll take care of him," Before leading him out of Ranger Ops.

Benny heard them leave, and gestured out. "I'm leaving too."

After he left, Alicia, Ben, and Vi turned to the others. "Are you guys quitting too?"

Cal, who was already standing, took off her morpher with a sad nod. "I don't want to do this, but I have to." She said in a small voice, similar to when the three had just met her. "My grandmother's sick - I have to take care of her. I'm really sorry."

She put her morpher on the table, just as Ada stood up. "I'm leaving too. My brother finally found a place to get us away from my mom, who abuses us. It's in Utah; where Cal's going, actually." Ada took Cal's hand as she too set down her morpher. "I'm sorry too."

The two shared a kiss before leaving. "Anybody else?" Alicia asked, looking to the remaining four rangers.

"I got the deal of a lifetime," Tanzo said, looking, surprising, sad. He was always the optimistic one, even in the face of such situations, but, for once, he wasn't. "My band is going on tour, and I really want to go with them." He took his morpher off, before saying goodbye to the others and exiting.

Nate cringed. "I actually got a really good deal too. I can play travel baseball for a year or so, and it'll help me go pro after high school, which has been a dream of mine since before I could remember. I really wanna help, but as it stands, I don't think I can pass this up. I am so, so sorry," He took off his morpher, laying on the table.

Kay stood up as he did. "Me too. I'm leaving to go with my dad for a year in Washington D.C." She sighed as she took her morpher off. "I didn't know until today. I wish I could say no to this, but I can't."

She leaned into Nate as he wrapped an arm around her, and the two left, looking back at only Geo sitting there. Alicia, Ben, and Vi watched him. "Just say it, Geo." Alicia said. "Waiting for it only makes it harder."

"I have to leave." Geo nodded, slowly unhooking his morpher. "I'm going across the country with my dad for a year - _only_ a year. I want you to know, if the position is still open, I'm coming back - and the others probably will too. It may not seem like it right now, or even at all, but we truly love being able to do what we do for others. I didn't want it to end this way, nor did I imagine it would."

As Geo put his morpher down and slowly began to leave, Vi stood up. "It won't end this way." She told him, making him turn towards her. "If you're right about what you just said, it won't end this way. And let me just say, I really hope you are, Geo."

He looked her in the eye and nodded at her, before he finally exited Ranger Ops.

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** One year after the events of this chapter, Terra reawakens with a plan to kidnap the rangers and destroy them once and for all. Meanwhile, Vi and Maya come up with a plan to save Riana and Julie when Terra's plan forces them to change it.

 **Next Chapter Title:** Saviors Part I

 **So, I just want to let you guys know to forget what I said about waiting for my idea, because, as you can see, here it is. Now, I know some of you might be shocked, you guys that created the characters are probably even more shocked than anyone, but I'm telling you that this is not where the story ends.**

 **Yesterday, since it was Saturday and I was free all day, I made an outline of the plan I had, and realized it wouldn't be as hard as I thought it would. So, I came up with the ideas for the final chapters and worked out the whole plan for you guys.** **In the next chapter, you'll definitely see that the year away has affected them in different ways, and you'll definitely see Vi and Maya jumping into action to help out, which they haven't really done much of. Anyways, here's the lineup I've got planned.**

 **Also, a little fact, this is the longest chapter I have ever written (I did not intend for it to be this long), and, without author's notes, this is around 8,100 words. My second longest was a little under 7,000. I know the length of the chapter is unimportant compared to quality, but this was just so, insanely long that I had to make a comment on it.**

 **Ep 25: Saviors Part II -** Continuation of Part I.

 **Ep 26: Saviors Part III -** POSSIBLE continuation of Part II (only if needed).

 **Ep 27: Prior Engagements -** Tanzo, Kay, and Geo focused.

 **Ep 28: Help Yourself -** Nate and Ada focused.

 **Ep 29: Bullies -** Benny and Cal focused.

 **Anyways, sorry if this ridiculously long chapter was too much, but I hope you liked it anyways! See you soon guys!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	26. Ep 24: Saviors Part I

**Here's the beginning of this two/three parter. I'm glad you guys are enjoying this so far, and I hope you like this one too! Also, check out the poll in my bio! More information in the author's note at the bottom!**

* * *

 **Last time on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

Benny heard them leave, and gestured out. "I'm leaving too."

After he left, Alicia, Ben, and Vi turned to the others. "Are you guys quitting too?"

Cal, who was already standing, took off her morpher with a sad nod. "I don't want to do this, but I have to." She said in a small voice, similar to when the three had just met her. "My grandmother's sick - I have to take care of her. I'm really sorry."

She put her morpher on the table, just as Ada stood up. "I'm leaving too. My brother finally found a place to get us away from my mom, who abuses us. It's in Utah; where Cal's going, actually." Ada took Cal's hand as she too set down her morpher. "I'm sorry too."

The two shared a kiss before leaving. "Anybody else?" Alicia asked, looking to the remaining four rangers.

"I got the deal of a lifetime," Tanzo said, looking, surprising, sad. He was always the optimistic one, even in the face of such situations, but, for once, he wasn't. "My band is going on tour, and I really want to go with them." He took his morpher off, before saying goodbye to the others and exiting.

Nate cringed. "I actually got a really good deal too. I can play travel baseball for a year or so, and it'll help me go pro after high school, which has been a dream of mine since before I could remember. I really wanna help, but as it stands, I don't think I can pass this up. I am so, so sorry," He took off his morpher, laying on the table.

Kay stood up as he did. "Me too. I'm leaving to go with my dad for a year in Washington D.C." She sighed as she took her morpher off. "I didn't know until today. I wish I could say no to this, but I can't."

She leaned into Nate as he wrapped an arm around her, and the two left, looking back at only Geo sitting there. Alicia, Ben, and Vi watched him. "Just say it, Geo." Alicia said. "Waiting for it only makes it harder."

"I have to leave." Geo nodded, slowly unhooking his morpher. "I'm going across the country with my dad for a year - _only_ a year. I want you to know, if the position is still open, I'm coming back - and the others probably will too. It may not seem like it right now, or even at all, but we truly love being able to do what we do for others. I didn't want it to end this way, nor did I imagine it would."

As Geo put his morpher down and slowly began to leave, Vi stood up. "It won't end this way." She told him, making him turn towards her. "If you're right about what you just said, it won't end this way. And let me just say, I really hope you are, Geo."

He looked her in the eye and nodded at her, before he finally exited Ranger Ops.

 **Now**

 ***1 Year Later***

Geo stood in the Washington DC airport, holding a ticket in his hand to Welch County back in California. He had a carry on bag on floor next to his feet as he sat down near the gate, awaiting for his flight to be called. He looked a bit older, and, rather than wear a bandana on his wrist and a beanie on his head, he wore the bandana around his head.

While he had one hand on the ticket in his hand, he held the other around the eagle pendant around his neck, recalling the events from a year before, when he promised Vi he would come back to be a ranger.

Shaking himself out of those thoughts, he looked around at the people near him. He saw families together, while he was all alone. His father had decided to stay in DC for a while longer with his family, while Geo would go back with his mom until he returned, potentially to move in with this both of them.

"Geo?" He heard someone say behind him.

Frowning, he turned around, surprised by who he saw. "Nate?" Geo stood up, putting his bag on his shoulder as he walked over to his friend, who was wearing his baseball jersey rather than the shirt he usually wore. "What're you doing here?" He asked, a small smile gracing his lips at the sight of his friend.

Nate adjusted his own carry on bag. "My year of traveling is up. I'm going back home to finish up my senior year." He had a reminiscent look on his face. "I haven't seen you in while. I haven't seen any of us in a while."

"Including monsters." Geo said, speaking a bit lower so no one around would hear them. "I wonder what happened to them."

Nate shrugged. "Maybe they decided that destroying Earth wasn't worth the effort."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Geo muttered. The two stood there awkwardly for a moment, before Geo continued speaking. "So, I'm glad to see you. Where are you sitting?"

The now 18 year old made a face. "I'm sitting in first class, actually." He said, noticing Geo's face turn disappointed. "Sorry, Geo."

Geo shrugged it off, even though he was truly disappointed. "It's fine - I'll see you after the ride."

Nate nodded. "Yeah, but we can catch up a bit now. Come on, let's sit down."

As they did so, they heard a few people approach. Looking up, they saw a few teen girls, about the age of 15-17, standing above them with notebooks. "Can we have your autograph, Nathan Giles?" One of them asked.

"Of course," Nate nodded, writing his name down.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the large hallway, Kay walked slowly towards the gate to Welch County alone, dragging her rolling carry on behind her. Her hair was shorter and straightened out, and her blazer was buttoned up. Her pendant hung around a golden chain rather than the black rope it used to hang on, and was out on top of her tank top, allowing it to be a centerpiece of her top.

Her heeled booties clicked against the polished floor, egging her on to the carpet around the gates, though she seemed to be upset. While she was in DC, she had made new friends and, disappointingly to Nate, a new boyfriend. Kay, however, had to break up with everyone because she was moving back to Welch County to finish the rest of her senior year, not that she could imagine it to be any better than it was in DC.

She doubted that she would get the opportunities she got when she was in DC. While there, she got to shake hands with the president for one of her experiments. Welch County High could never beat that.

Not only was she disappointed about that, but also that her father was letting her go back without him so he could stay behind and work while she went back with her mother and brother. She thought, since she and her father had been getting along and spending time together, that he would come back with her instead of pushing her aside like he usually did. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Kay sighed as she approached the gate, pushing some of her shoulder-length hair behind her ears. Doing so, she saw a small group of teenage girls disperse from around two people. When they did, she stared at the two sitting there.

"Damn," She whispered under her breath, startled when Geo stood up and waved to her. She waved back uncomfortably, making awkward eye contact with Nate for a moment as she was forced to walk over there. "Hey guys," She said stiffly.

Geo engulfed her in a sudden hug, which she stood rigid in. "I'm so glad to see you guys." Geo said as he pulled away, smiling. "Kay, you should come catch up with us while we wait. Where are you sitting in the plane?"

Kay held up her ticket. "First class," She said, pursing her lips as Nate gave her an odd glance.

"Really?" Geo asked. "Well, I guess you and Nate will have plenty of time to catch up after being apart for so long. You guys must've missed each other."

Nate scoffed. "We broke up," He said, surprisingly bitter.

Geo stared between the two of them. "No way. You two were so good together. What happened?"

Kay shrugged stiffly. "It just didn't work out." She said at the same time when Nate chimed in, "She found a new boyfriend."

"I see," Geo said, frowning at the two, wondering the full story, though he knew he wasn't gonna get it.

The three of them sat in an awkward silence for a few moments before their flight was called. Kay gestured towards the plane. "I'll see you guys when we get off." She walked away, as Nate also said goodbye to Geo as he also boarded the plane, leaving Geo to wait for his seat to be called.

 **~Cue Opening 3~**

Meanwhile, in Utah in the early morning, a now 19 year old Ada had grabbed a few bags of her things and quietly left the house before her brother or sister woke up. She didn't have a good reason to tell them why she was going back, so she decided it was easier to leave a note saying goodbye. Ada had cut her long, curly black hair into a short, straight bob and, because it was hot, currently had her crimson and black plaid flannel tied around her waist.

Standing outside of the house was Cal, leaning against a car. She smiled at her, pushing some of her long blonde hair behind her ears. She now had bangs that swept to the side, and her hair was slightly curled. She wore a blue blouse tucked into a pair of black high-rise shorts and shorter boots since it was hot. Her usual denim jacket was hung inside the car.

"Hey stranger," Cal greeted, pushing herself off the car to catch Ada in a tight hug, with the latter practically fell into, dropping her things in the process.

Ada buried her face in Cal's shoulder. "I've missed you so much," She mumbled, her voice slightly muffled.

Despite the two being in the same state, both of them were pretty busy - Cal with school and taking care of her grandmother, and Ada with a job and spending time with her own family. They had stayed in a relationship, but they weren't often together.

Now, Cal was going back to Welch County with her mother to finish senior year, and Ada was joining her, planning on going to the community college in the area. She wasn't really sure what she was going for, as her dreams often changed, but she was hoping it would help her decide.

With Cal's mother's permission, Ada was staying with them for the time being as well, which helped her a lot. She really didn't want to go back and live with her mother again.

The two broke away from their hug, Cal putting her hands on Ada's face as she smiled. "I missed you too." She pulled Ada's face towards her own for a kiss. After they broke away from that, Cal helped pick up some of Ada's bags.

They put them in the back and Cal got into the driver's seat while Ada got into the passenger seat. "We're going home." Cal said softly.

Ada nodded, looking off down the barren road they were going to drive down. "Yeah, we are. I wonder what's going on back there."

"Probably not as much as we think," Cal muttered. "But we'll see."

As Cal started the car and the two began driving off, Ada looked out the window. "Yeah, I guess we will." She whispered, watching as her house disappeared into the distance behind them.

~PRAG~

Up on Terra's ship, Valcon and Veenom sat in the throne room, looking down at the rangers as they awaited for Terra's awakening, seeing as they had waiting for a very long time. While they waited for her, Jamie walked over to the prison cells, seeing Julie and Riana sitting in one, barely reacting to his presence.

"Lost your will to fight?" Jamie asked, not getting a response. "Well, that's not like you two. Hand it over."

The two looked up at him, as Julie shrugged. "Sorry, big brother, we don't have anything."

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Oh, is that so?"

"Yeah, it is."

Riana watched their exchange when Jamie suddenly grabbed Julie through the bars and pulled her forward, slamming her into the metal door. "Give it up, Julie."

Julie growled under her breath as she handed over a filing tool. "Happy now?" She growled.

"Not even close," He shoved her to the ground as Riana stood up and approached him. "Oh good, you're here. What do you want?"

"What are you planning on doing?" Riana asked, crossing her arms. "You can't keep us here forever. The rangers will come and save us, and there's nothing you'll ever be able to do about it."

Jamie smirked. "Actually, the rangers quit about a year ago. I don't think anyone's coming for you."

"That's where you're wrong," A voice said from behind him, making him turn to see Terra standing directly behind him. She was dressed in black warrior armor. "The rangers are definitely coming up to the ship, no matter if they quit or not."

The general stepped back as she walked forward. "Excuse me, my queen, but how will the rangers come up here if they quit? They obviously don't want to be rangers anymore, so why would any of this matter to them?"

Terra grabbed his face with her hand, her long nails trailing on his cheeks. "Because, we're going to bring them here. Without their powers, they'll be useless and free for us to take down once and for all."

"You can't do that, Terra," Riana gripped the metal bars of the cell door. "You're making a mistake. Remember who you are. If you do this, you could very well get destroyed!"

Terra turned slowly to her. "That's only if I lose, and I don't intend to do so." She smirked, patting her hand once, before leading Jamie away.

~PRAG~

In Welch County, Benny sat in Carlyle's diner on his laptop at the breakfast bar. He had a cup of coffee next to him and some toast that he was slowly eating as he continued to surf the internet, seeing many articles about how it had been a year since the power rangers had disappeared, and a year since any monster attacks had popped up.

As he read one of them, he looked to his bare wrist and touched it with his other hand. Even though it had been a while, his wrist still felt unnaturally bare without his morpher on it.

Despite what happened with his sister, he still sometimes regretted leaving as a ranger. He truly enjoyed helping other people, and obviously wanted to still do that. Thinking about it, he did know that it wasn't Alicia or Ben's fault that his sister had been killed, it was the old red ranger from the previous team. In fact, they weren't even the mentors of that team - rather training them to fight and use their powers properly.

Benny had actually often contemplated returning, but, after he had left, it felt strange to go back. He was nervous about how they would respond to his return. The thing that made him the most nervous was the way Vi and Maya had stopped hanging out with him.

It wasn't that they were ignoring him or anything, but they weren't hanging around with him anymore, and he didn't want to ask. He didn't exactly know why he was so nervous about it - anyone would've acted the way he did if they found that out - but he was.

What also worried him was that he hadn't seen Roger around pretty much at all. He knew he was still going to school, but he could never seem to find him or anything. He heard, however, that Roger was going to be the class valedictorian for the seniors, which surprised him a lot.

After what happened, he figured that Roger wasn't going to be doing much of anything - more likely going into a deep depressive state than trying to become the valedictorian or anything like that.

Then again, that could always be his way of coping by burying himself in work. That's similar to what Benny did when he found out what happened to his sister. He buried himself into practicing his computer hacking, and, in the last year, has gotten much better than he was.

Since finding it out, his brother and parents had become more distant from him. He wasn't positive as for why that happened, potentially because they were hoping for good news and that wasn't what he gave them, but he wasn't sure.

Suddenly, he heard a loud explosion from outside. Immediately, people in the restaurant began to scream and run to the back, while Benny closed his laptop and ran outside, running in the direction of the explosion.

He saw plenty of smoke coming from an alleyway, and ran towards it. The instant he did, the smoke came into his lungs and choked him. He coughed against it, trying to continue running forward as he saw a male standing in the distance. He dropped to his knees, not being able to breath very well as he look up, his vision blurring.

"Who are you?" He gasped out, holding his hands around his neck to gesture that he was choking.

The man walked forward, revealing Jamie. "Right now, I'm your worst nightmare." He growled, kicking Benny in the head, knocking him out before the gas did. Jamie shook his head as he knelt down and flung Benny over his shoulder. "One down, seven to go."

~PRAG~

Meanwhile, in Nevada, Tanzo was stopped at the side of the road with his band, looking at their car that was smoking and wouldn't start. None of the members of the band, including Tanzo, knew how to fix the car, and were waiting for someone to hopefully stop and help them.

"Maybe we should call for help." Lainey suggested, crossing her arms across her chest and leaning into Mo. "I mean, no one knows how to fix it and we could be stuck out here all day if no one stops."

Hector sighed, leaning against the van. "Someone has to stop. Our cellphones don't get service out here. Look at where we are - we're practically in the desert, Lainey. Besides, it's not like we didn't already try that."

Mo made a face. "This is your fault, man. If you hadn't gotten this crappy van, we could be back to Welch County in a few hours, but now it's probably not gonna be until tomorrow."

"Let's just calm down, guys. It can't be too hard. Someone has to stop eventually." Tanzo said, looking out towards the road as he put his hands up, waving down a car coming. The silver car parked right behind their van, and a familiar blond head poked out of the window.

"Tanzo?" It was Cal and Ada, staring at the now 18 year old Tanzo. He had no long sleeved undershirt anymore, and was wearing jeans with his yellow t-shirt. His hair was more messy, and a bit longer than it use to be. The two got out of the car, walking around to see Tanzo up as a tow truck stopped in front of them. Mo, Hector, and Lainey went to deal with it, as Tanzo walked up to the two.

"Cal, Ada," Tanzo looked them over, surprised at their presence. "What are you guys doing here?"

Cal gestured forward. "Driving back to Welch County. We've been on the road since early this morning. What are you doing here?"

Tanzo smirked. "The same. It's so..."

Mo cut him off, yelling at him from over by the tow truck. "Tanzo, we're gonna go with the tow truck to the repair shop. You coming or going with them?"

"I..." He looked back at Ada and Cal, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. "I'll go back with them, alright? Just let me grab my guitar."

Hector nodded. "Go for it."

"Thanks guys," He yelled back as he grabbed his guitar and closed up the van. "See you back in Cali!"

The band members waved as they drove off in the tow truck with the van behind them. Tanzo walked back with Cal and Ada to put his guitar in the back. Just as they closed up the trunk, they saw Veenom standing in front of the car. They stared in shock, and looked around the road to see, surprisingly, no one there.

Cal stepped forward. "Veenom?" She growled.

Veenom smirked. "Hello again, rangers. Isn't it nice to see you three again."

"We need to go," Ada whispered in Cal's ear. "We can't fight him unmorphed. He'll kill us."

She nodded back. "Alright."

"Planning on going somewhere?" Veenom questioned as he brought out a blaster and pointed it at them. "I think it's the end of the line, rangers."

"Run!" Tanzo yelled, and the three began to sprint down the strip on the side of the road. Before they could get far, however, Veenom shot at them with the blaster, knocking them down into a ditch they were running past.

Veenom walked over to the ditch and looked at the three unconscious rangers at the bottom. He smirked and snapped his fingers, transporting them all away.

~PRAG~

Back in Welch County, Roger was sitting in his kitchen, books surrounding his spot at the table as he studied for an upcoming test. It was currently spring break, leaving only two months of high school left, but he still needed to work hard to maintain his valedictorian position.

Being a bit older, his hair was shorter than it used to be, and his hoodie was draped over a nearby chair because it was hot outside.

As he worked, he saw someone enter the room out of the corner of his eye. He looked up to see EJ Summers, who his parents had hired to babysit Isaiah because they knew her parents. She had graduated last year, and, since she had refused to go to the school her parents wanted her to, she ended up getting this job to get out of the house.

She had dark skin, black hair, and brown eyes. She wore a crimson and white motocross shirt, black leggings, and tennis shoes, and she was holding Isaiah in her arms with a raised eyebrow at him.

He looked at her, making a face. "What?" He asked coldly.

"So, I've been working here for nearly 6 months or so now, and you just seem to be avoiding not only me, but your brother," She held the baby's hand, making him smile. "Why exactly is that?"

Roger raised an eyebrow with a scoff. "Maybe I'm busy."

"It's spring break."

"So?" Roger sighed, closing his books as he looked up at her. "I'd prefer to busy myself rather than be left with nothing to do."

EJ shook her head. "Well, there are lots of things you can do besides school work. Why don't you come with me to play with Isaiah? Or come to the park with us once in a while?" When Roger didn't say anything, EJ rolled her eyes. "You're not a very good brother, you know that?"

"You don't know _anything_ about that." Roger growled, standing up and walking around the table to be in front of her. "Nothing."

"I can see how you avoid doing anything with him, and I think that's enough to determine it. I have a brother too, and I've never acted like that with him." EJ told him, not backing away from the obviously angry 18 year old.

Roger took a deep breath. "Look, obviously my parents didn't tell you, but I had a brother before Isaiah - an older brother, who died." He looked down as EJ stared at him. "I'm gonna go get some air."

"Roger," EJ called, causing him to stop for a moment. "I'm sorry - I really didn't know."

He nodded. "It's fine. I'm just gonna go get some air." Roger went outside, taking a deep breath as he sat on the porch steps. He looked down at the steps, when he heard a strange sound in front of him.

Roger looked up, and was startled into a standing position when he saw Jamie standing in front of him. During the investigation into the break in at his house that was ultimately responsible for what happened to his brother, they had looked into the security camera footage at his house. Jamie was the one who did it, and Roger was immediately boiling with rage.

"You," He growled. "You're the one who..."

Jamie nodded, before cutting him off. "Yep. That was me. Got you to quit, didn't it? Besides, wasn't he already on death's door anyway?"

Roger was speechless, and wanted nothing more than to put Jamie in a hole. He ran forward, charging at the general, who ducked under a punch from the ex-black ranger. Jamie grabbed him by the legs, trying to knock him down, but Roger kicked back at him, throwing him to the ground.

Jamie quickly jumped up and out of the way of Roger's foot once more, and aimed a punch at his chest, getting it to make him stumble back a few steps. Acting on his stumble, the general quickly ran over and grabbed him by the head, slamming him into the car next to him and making Roger fall limply to the floor.

"Well, I guess that makes five now. Just three left." Jamie grabbed Roger up by the arm and teleported away as EJ watched in horror from the window upstairs.

~PRAG~

Geo, Kay, and Nate all waited together outside the airport, waiting for their parents to come and pick them up to bring them home. While Geo seemed to be content with both of them next to him, Kay and Nate kept making awkward glances at each other, obviously not wanting to be in each other's presence.

"So, how was Washington DC?" Geo asked, looking to Kay.

Kay looked at him, distracted for a moment by her thoughts. "Oh, it was great. I met a few friends, a boyfriend," She said uncomfortably, noticing Geo and Nate shifting awkwardly as well. "I got to meet the president because of one of my experiments."

"Really?" Geo asked, smiling. "That's incredible."

Nate looked past Geo at Kay. "Where's your dad at? Weren't you staying with him?"

Kay glared at him. "I was, but he decided to stay to do his job while I'm gonna come back here and finish senior year before I even turn 18," She smirked at him, who made a face at her.

"Well, I'm gonna become a professional baseball player after I graduate." Nate told them proudly. "I've already talked about it with my agent."

Kay opened her mouth to respond when screams and sirens were heard nearby. The three looked over, and were shocked to see Valcon walking towards them with a smirk on his face. They all stood up.

"Valcon." Geo growled, standing strong with Nate and Kay right behind him.

"Rangers." Valcon chuckled. "Goodnight, kids."

The three frowned. "Excuse me?" Kay asked, stepping forward as Valcon snapped his fingers, instantly making a cloud of smoke appear around them. The three teens fell unconscious almost the moment it hit them.

Valcon shook his head, laughing. "Too easy." He then snapped his fingers again, and the four teleported away.

~PRAG~

Maya sat on a bench in a dance studio, watching Vi practice before her upcoming performance in front of her teacher. Since she was young, Vi has been training in all forms of dance, and was one of the most advanced dancers in her class.

While she practiced, Maya would watch and encourage her, or even help her as a partner if she needed it, even though she wasn't very good at it. Unfortunately, since Alicia and Ben had their daughter, Dove, Vi, Maya, and Ginger had to take over at Ranger Ops, leaving them without a lot of time for other activities.

Once in a while, though, Alicia and Ben would let Ginger watch her and allow Vi and Maya some free time. Currently, Alicia was working on upgrades to the morphers so that, when the rangers came back as Geo promised, they would be more powerful and potentially capable of destroying Terra and her generals.

Vi stopped after her routine and came over to see Maya watching the small TV in the room with a slightly horrified look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Vi asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Maya turned to Vi. "I thin.. I think the rangers got captured by Terra."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Vi and Maya steal the powered up morphers and take a new zord to help save the rangers. Meanwhile, the rangers are reunited on Terra's ship and try to make a plan to escape.

 **Next Chapter Title:** Saviors Part II

 **So, I have an official announcement. I have a poll in my bio about what you would like to see next. I'm positively doing Rainbow Fighters, a collaboration piece with another author, but I'm not sure if I still want to do Energy Warriors (sequel to Data Surge) right now. I'll probably get back to it eventually, but I'm not sure if I want to do it now. You can vote on what I should do in the poll.**

 **I'll only keep the poll up for a few days, because, if you guys vote on the other one, I should probably put the OC contest up soon to be able to start a little while after the story is over. I know I usually only keep OC contest's open until I feel I get everything (usually only a few days), but I will be keeping that one up (if I do that story) until probably September 7-9 to be able to get as much potential as I can.**

 **Now that I've explained that, here's the upcoming chapters.**

 **Ep 26: Saviors Part III -** POSSIBLE continuation of Part II (only if needed).

 **Ep 27: Prior Engagements -** Tanzo, Kay, and Geo focused.

 **Ep 28: Help Yourself -** Nate and Ada focused.

 **Ep 29: Bullies -** Benny and Cal focused.

 **Special: Rainbow Fighters -** Preview of future story.

 **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and the next chapter should be out soon! See you guys!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	27. Ep 25: Saviors Part II

**Thank you guys for voting in my poll, and the final decision has been made - I will be doing an OC contest. The contest was posted last night, if you want to get involved. Keep in mind I can't choose everyone's OC's, but I do read and like most of them. The contest should be up until September 7th-9th depending on what I think at the time. Can't wait to see what you guys come up with!**

* * *

 **Last time on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

Maya sat on a bench in a dance studio, watching Vi practice before her upcoming performance in front of her teacher. Since she was young, Vi has been training in all forms of dance, and was one of the most advanced dancers in her class.

While she practiced, Maya would watch and encourage her, or even help her as a partner if she needed it, even though she wasn't very good at it. Unfortunately, since Alicia and Ben had their daughter, Dove, Vi, Maya, and Ginger had to take over at Ranger Ops, leaving them without a lot of time for other activities.

Once in a while, though, Alicia and Ben would let Ginger watch her and allow Vi and Maya some free time. Currently, Alicia was working on upgrades to the morphers so that, when the rangers came back as Geo promised, they would be more powerful and potentially capable of destroying Terra and her generals.

Vi stopped after her routine and came over to see Maya watching the small TV in the room with a slightly horrified look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Vi asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Maya turned to Vi. "I thin.. I think the rangers got captured by Terra."

 **Now**

Vi stared at Maya for a moment, taking in what Maya just said. At this point in time, the information was so bizarre that she could barely process it. "What?" Vi asked, shaking her head to clear it. "What do you mean?"

Maya gestured back at the TV, though Vi didn't look. "They just released missing person's reports on all of the rangers. Cal's car was found on the side of the road in Nevada with Ada's and Tanzo's stuff in it, Geo, Kay, and Nate were all kidnapped from the airport according to eyewitness reports, Roger was snatched from his house according to EJ, and Benny ran after an explosion and never came back."

"Are you sure?" Vi asked, rubbing her arm nervously. "Maybe it was different people."

Maya nodded. "I'm sure. I don't think it would be that big of a coincidence. Besides, eyewitness descriptions match the rangers, Valcon, Jamie, and I can only assume that Veenom was involved as well."

"Well, what are we gonna do?" Vi asked, running a hand through her hair, which was now a bit longer than it used to be, as opposed to Maya's, which was cut quite short - about to her chin. "I mean, they don't have their powers and we don't have any powers to save them with. We have to get Alicia and Ben."

"No!" Maya stopped her from getting her phone. "I have an idea on how to save them, but Alicia and Ben would never agree to let us do it. You wanna hear it?"

"I don't know, Maya," Vi looked down at her bag, where her phone was. "This could be really dangerous. We could get hurt, or killed even!"

The other girl made a face. "That's not gonna happen.. okay, we might get a little banged up, but it's worth it save the world, right?" Maya said. "I have a brilliant idea. Are you ready to hear it now or what? I mean, this could me a life or death situation. It's now or never."

Vi stared at her for a moment, before nodding her head. "Okay, tell me."

 **~Cue Opening 3~**

Geo frowned as he felt himself coming back to consciousness, wondering why he was so groggy. No matter if he got a little bit of sleep or a lot, Geo tended not to feel all that groggy when he woke up, and always had an easy time getting up in the morning. Now, however, he felt like he weighed 100 tons, but was slowly coming back to reality.

"Geo," He faintly heard a voice whisper, and he squeezed his eyes together before opening them. Surprisingly, he wasn't blinded by harsh lights, but rather greeted by a dim lighting. He looked around and found that the voice came from Cal, who was in a prison cell in between Tanzo and Roger, who was next to Geo.

He frowned as he looked around. In a circular room sat eight prison cells going all around except for where the door was, and were all directly next to each other, with bars that they could fit their hands through. He sat in a cell on the left side of the door, with Roger next to him, then Cal, Tanzo, Kay, Ada, Nate, and Benny on the right side of the door.

"What the hell is going on?" Geo asked, looking around at the other rangers, most of which shrugged.

Ada spoke up, however. "I think we were kidnapped. I mean, this is obviously not a coincidence. Does anyone remember anything?"

"I remember Veenom," Cal nodded. "He kidnapped Tanzo, you, and I. Anybody else remember something like that?"

The others seemed to think for a few moments, before Nate said, "I remember Valcon making a cloud of smoke that made me, Geo, and Kay pass out."

"Jamie," Roger said, before anyone could respond to Nate. He was looking down, spaced out almost. "Jamie attacked me. He was mocking me about how he killed my brother."

As everyone else offered condolences, Benny nodded in remembrance. "Jamie attacked me too, with that same gas that Valcon used probably. I remember feeling like I couldn't breathe before I passed out."

Geo took a deep breath. "Okay, so we know that we were kidnapped by Terra's generals. The question now is why? They could've kidnapped us at any time over this year, so why did they wait until now and what do they want with us?"

"Probably to kill us, if you haven't been keeping up." Kay growled. "Look, Terra's been out to kill us since day one, so why would now be any different? She probably knows we have no powers, so it's not like she could want that. Sorry if you think I'm being harsh, but it's true. She's gonna take us out one by one probably."

"You're not wrong," A voice said as the door was flung open, clanging loudly against the side of Benny's cell, letting Terra herself walk in. None of the rangers had ever seen her or met her, so this was a surprise. "Greetings, rangers. Wanna take a guess at who I am?"

Tanzo looked at her in shock. "You're Terra. You're the leader of the alien army we've been fighting this whole time?"

Terra walked over to his cell and grabbed his shirt, pulling him close. "Yes, and you'll treat me as such. Then again, considering you're going to die soon, I guess it doesn't matter. If you're insolent, I'll just have more fun skinning you alive." She hissed, her fangs coming out as she dropped him to the floor.

"So, we'll treat you like the bitch you are?" Nate spoke up, causing Terra to looked over at him.

She growled. "What did you say to me?"

"You heard me."

Terra rushed at his cage pushing her staff through the cell bars and stabbing the end of it into Nate's shoulder, causing him to howl in pain. "Do _you_ hear me?"

Nate gasped out, "Loud and clear."

"Let him go!" Kay yelled, clutching the bars of her cell with white knuckled hands as she watched Terra. The evil queen turned to Kay, a sick smirk on her face.

She chuckled. "Adorable. A cute little couple here." Neither Kay, nor Nate, said anything in response. Terra shoved her staff, throwing Nate off of it and to the ground. "Well, you can watch your boyfriend bleed out while I take your leader for a little one on one time."

"What?!" Geo exclaimed, backing away as Terra opened his cell door. Immediately when she did so, he kicked at her hand, trying to get the keys to fall out, but she stood there unfazed. "No way."

Terra swung her staff at him, but Geo ducked, causing the staff to hit the bars in between his and Roger's cells. He grabbed her staff by the end nearest to him and tried to pull it out of her grasp, to no avail. She growled and pushed the staff forward before ripping it back out of Geo's arms and skinning his hands with the blades at the end.

He hissed in pain, but fought on. She leaped back as he tried to tackle her, causing him to stumble and nearly hit the ground, if he hadn't caught himself on the cell door. He groaned as his bloody hand touched the dirty cell bar, and immediately pulled it away, leaving a bloody hand print on it. Terra tried to sweep out his feet, but he jumped up and tried to kick at her staff, but she pushed back, making him fall on his side.

She jumped up and slammed her foot down on his wrist, causing a very audible crack that resounded through the room and made the red ranger cry out loudly. Terra chuckled and grabbed him by the broken wrist, putting a shackle on that one, one on the other wrist, and one on her own wrist.

"You can get up, or allow me to drag you with your broken wrist all the way to the throne room. Whatever you decide." Terra smirked, pulling him out of the room and slamming the door shut.

~PRAG~

"I don't know about this, Maya," Vi whispered as they walked down the stairs to the basement, where the zord bay was kept. In their pockets, they both had four morphers each, which they had stolen from the command room and left a note in their place, explaining what happened and where they were going. "We don't know how to control a zord. We weren't trained."

Maya gestured ahead. "Alicia made a new zord that she said is much easier to use, and will only be used in emergencies."

Vi crossed her arms as they walked. "I don't even know why Alicia keeps making zords - the rangers don't even use them ever."

"She makes them for times like these." Maya smirked, pointing up at a large zord that seemed to be based on a condor. "Let's get inside." She pressed a button on one of the morphers, teleporting the two inside the condor zord. "This is incredible." Maya said as she and Vi sat in the two front spots. Looking behind them, there were six other spots behind them.

Vi looked at the morpher Maya shoved back into her pocket. "I thought the morphers only worked with the rangers."

"They do," Maya chuckled. "They only will _morph_ for the rangers. Alicia told me once that if I needed to teleport back to Ranger Ops, I could just press the button on one of the ranger's morphers."

"Since when do you know more about the morphers and tech than I do?" Vi smirked at her, giving her a pointed look.

"I've been spending a lot more time here than at the boxing studio. Ben needs me here more than there, so I've picked up a few things." Maya said, crossing her arms. "No to what you're thinking."

Vi sighed. "Maya, I know you've wanted to be a ranger since day one," She said. "It's not a secret, and it's nothing to be ashamed off. I want that too sometimes, but I've accepted that the others were chosen for it instead of me. Hell, I'm just grateful for the opportunity to work with them."

Maya shrugged. "I doesn't exactly make me feel like I'm helping out a ton."

"You help out so much," Vi put a hand on her shoulder. "I know it doesn't seem like much, but, without you, the rangers wouldn't really know how to fight very well, or even properly. Plus, you help me with my work. You do a lot more than you think - and I think that makes you pretty underrated, but you shouldn't feel that way."

The boxer scoffed. "Yeah, well I'd like to do more." She looked at the control panel and started up the zord, ignoring Vi's concerned look. "Let's go."

"Maya," Vi said, reaching a hand out to touch hers, but Maya pushed it away.

"Let's just go, Vi." Maya gave her a hard look. "Please."

"Okay." Vi nodded, allowing Maya to silently start up the zord and begin to move towards Terra's ship.

~PRAG~

Terra dropped Geo on the floor in front of her throne, sitting down in said throne with a shackle still around her wrist. He breathed heavily in pain, clutching his broken wrist the minute he was allowed to rest, pushing the shackle further up his arm to lessen the pain.

As he held onto it, he looked up, seeing Terra looking down at him with a strange look on her face - one more of contemplation that hatred. He looked back at her, frowning in confusion. "So, what's your deal, anyways?" Geo asked, letting out a breathy laugh. "Planning to kill me before you kill my team."

"Actually," Terra leaned back in her chair. "I was thinking we could talk."

Geo narrowed his eyes. "And why would you want that?"

"I think the real question here is why do you fight a war you know you can't win?" Terra asked, giving him a hard look. "Almost every time you've fought against my generals, you've lost. I don't know why you think you can win this."

"Why should that matter to you?" Geo sat back, letting his broken wrist fall into his lap. "If you're so sure about that, then it shouldn't matter to you if we're fighting back or not. If you think you're gonna win this - good for you, but we obviously have different opinions, if you haven't noticed. Me, and the others, think _we're_ gonna win, and nothing you do is ever gonna change that."

Terra raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? I think if I killed all of you and destroyed Earth, you might think differently."

"Considering we'd be dead and have no way of actually thinking, I don't believe that's right," Geo pointed out, giving her a droll look.

The evil queen glared at the red ranger. "You know what I meant."

Geo chuckled humorlessly. "Of course I do, but that's not gonna happen. You're not gonna have the opportunity to kill any of us, and you definitely won't destroy Earth. Besides, you are aware that if you killed any of us, the morphers are free to go to anyone else, right?" He saw the look on her face change to immense anger. "See, you can't win no matter what you do! There's always gonna be someone fighting back, Terra. The difference between us is that, we won't have that once you're gone."

Terra lunged forward and grabbed his face in her hand, long nails scratching into his tan skin. "You'll never win! Do you hear me? Never!"

"That's what you think," He sneered. "Good always beats evil. Every time!"

"No!" She ground out, before crying out in pain and clutching her head. Geo watched her as she hit herself with one of her hands, before shaking her head and glaring daggers at him. "Never."

Geo stared at her. "What was that little episode?"

"There was nothing happening, you insolent little child!" Terra screamed, standing up to emphasize her point. "Nothing!"

The doors opened behind them, and both of them turned to see Valcon and Veenom standing at the door. "My Queen," Veenom approached, stopping when she put her hand up in a gesture to stop. "Maybe you should come with us and rest. This is taking a long toll on you."

Terra grabbed her staff and pointed it at him, energy collecting at the end. Geo's hands were also forced up with the shackles. "I slept for a year for this! I'm not giving this up for my idiotic generals and they're insistence to rest! Why, exactly, do you want me to rest, anyways?!" She demanded.

"My liege, it's nothing, I just..." Veenom was cut off when he jumped back from a blast from her staff.

Terra growled, a blast collecting again. "I demand to know! Now!"

"Because," Valcon smirked, entering the room, a plan in mind. "Your uncle put a spell on you. Without rest, your mind wanders too much - especially with these influences," He gestured disgustedly to Geo. "Without it, you'd be working with the rangers. You would be more or less human - like your cousin."

"What?" Terra stared at him, her staff falling a bit, with the energy slowly dissipating. "That's.. tha..." She trailed off, remembering. She stood in a trance for a few moments, before she looked down and Geo, and then back up at Valcon. "Oh my god." She whispers.

"Why would you do that?" Veenom growled, shoving Valcon against the wall with his forearm against the shapeshifter's throat.

Valcon laughed, pushing the alien back. "Like you have such good morals and such. You're a snake. You always have been!"

Geo watched them converse, before looking back up at Terra, who made eye contact with her. Her eyes flashed back to green for a moment from the red they were, and they continued to flicker on and off. "You're being controlled." He whispered up to her, and she stared down at him.

"I.. I don't know what's happening," Terra said, looking down at the ground. "This can't be happening. I..." She trailed off, shaking her head as she fell back into her throne.

Just as she did so, Valcon looked over at her. "It's time to do something I should've done a long time ago."

Veenom followed his gaze, and smirked. "I see," He nodded slowly. "Shall we?"

"Oh, we shall."

~PRAG~

Back in the prison cells, Roger was pulling and pushing on the bar that Terra had hit with her staff. The top part of it was broken in half, and he knew if he continued to shove it that the other end would come loose.

The others, however, were engaged in a conversation, and Ada and Benny were trying to help Nate stop the bleeding in his shoulder. It had slowed down, but not stopped, and it was obvious that he was in serious pain.

Cal, who was sitting in the cell next to Roger, looked over, wondering why he was so silent. Seeing what he was doing, she crawled over to the bars between their cells.

"You found a way out," She said, staring in shock as the metal bar was pulled back and forth to eventually break. It was evident by the bend at the bottom of the bar that his idea was definitely working. "How did you do that?" This attracted the attention of the others.

Roger continued his task. "Terra hit the top of it in the fight and I just started to move it to see if I could break it off and get out. If I could, I was gonna go help Geo and get the keys to get you guys out."

"That's great," Tanzo said, coming up to the front of his cell. "Now we can get out."

"Yeah, but how do we get off of here when we're out?" Roger asked as he strained and finally broke the bar, holding onto it as he slipped through the opening. He kept the bar in his hand. "I'm gonna go find Geo, and I'm taking this just in case. I'll be back." He took one last look at everyone around him, before running out of the room.

"He'd better come back," Ada said, a hard expression on her face. "And when he does - when they both do - we have to get back. We can't turn our back on the world anymore, guys. We have to fight, and we have win."

Cal nodded. "Exactly."

The others nodded in agreement.

"We're glad you think so," A voice said outside, the door opening to reveal Vi and Maya running into the room. "Because that's exactly what we're here to help you do."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** After Vi and Maya give the rangers back their morphers, they all engage in a fight against Veenom, Valcon, Jamie, and Terra. Meanwhile, Alicia and Ben find the note Vi and Maya left, and race against time to stop a tragic event from happening.

 **Next Chapter Title:** Saviors Part III

 **So, I wanted to leave this off on another cliffhanger and do a part three because I felt that was the best thing to do. The next chapter will be more action than anything, and it will have a few fight scenes with Vi and Maya, as well as a little mission the two go on inside the ship...**

 **Oh, and as I said above, I have an OC contest up for Power Rangers: Earth Defenders, which is going to go up with Power Rangers: Rainbow Fighters, which will be a more of a smaller series (only about 20 chapters/'episodes'), and is a collaboration with another author. If you want to check out the contest, feel free! I'm always excited to see what you guys come up with!**

 **Anyways, guys, I hope you enjoyed the second part to this one, and here's the line up for the next (and last) five chapters!**

 **Ep 27: Prior Engagements -** Tanzo, Kay, and Geo focused.

 **Ep 28: Help Yourself -** Nate and Ada focused.

 **Ep 29: Bullies -** Benny and Cal focused.

 **Special: Rainbow Fighters -** Preview of future story.

 **Ep 30: Guardians Forever! -** Finale!

 **The next chapter should be out soon! See you guys!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	28. Ep 26: Saviors Part III

**Hey guys, here's part three and the final part of this arc. Things are gonna get a bit intense in this episode, and you'll definitely see a turn in certain characters in this chapter. I hope you guys like it!**

* * *

 **Last time on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

Back in the prison cells, Roger was pulling and pushing on the bar that Terra had hit with her staff. The top part of it was broken in half, and he knew if he continued to shove it that the other end would come loose.

The others, however, were engaged in a conversation, and Ada and Benny were trying to help Nate stop the bleeding in his shoulder. It had slowed down, but not stopped, and it was obvious that he was in serious pain.

Cal, who was sitting in the cell next to Roger, looked over, wondering why he was so silent. Seeing what he was doing, she crawled over to the bars between their cells.

"You found a way out," She said, staring in shock as the metal bar was pulled back and forth to eventually break. It was evident by the bend at the bottom of the bar that his idea was definitely working. "How did you do that?" This attracted the attention of the others.

Roger continued his task. "Terra hit the top of it in the fight and I just started to move it to see if I could break it off and get out. If I could, I was gonna go help Geo and get the keys to get you guys out."

"That's great," Tanzo said, coming up to the front of his cell. "Now we can get out."

"Yeah, but how do we get off of here when we're out?" Roger asked as he strained and finally broke the bar, holding onto it as he slipped through the opening. He kept the bar in his hand. "I'm gonna go find Geo, and I'm taking this just in case. I'll be back." He took one last look at everyone around him, before running out of the room.

"He'd better come back," Ada said, a hard expression on her face. "And when he does - when they both do - we have to get back. We can't turn our back on the world anymore, guys. We have to fight, and we have win."

Cal nodded. "Exactly."

The others nodded in agreement.

"We're glad you think so," A voice said outside, the door opening to reveal Vi and Maya running into the room. "Because that's exactly what we're here to help you do."

 **Now**

Roger ran down the hall, kicking and fighting off the various Chimera that came at him as he tried to get to the throne room. He could hear loud noises coming from the room, and while he knew it would be unlikely that he could win against Terra and her generals without his powers, he had to get Geo and the others.

As he rushed towards the throne room, he heard chuckling from the next hall over. He looked to the side, seeing Jamie standing against the wall with his arms crossed against his chest.

He smirked at the black ranger. "I would say I'm impressed that you got out, but I'm really not. Terra's not the best at doing things herself, which is why she has us."

Roger stepped forward, dropping the bar in his hands, his fists clenched at his side. He grabbed Jamie by the throat and shoved him against the wall, pinning his upper body with his other arm. "So, it was Terra who told you to kill my brother?"

Jamie managed to laugh, despite the hand on his throat. "Please. She didn't know anything about it. The real master told me to do it."

"Who is that?" Roger growled, getting in his face. "You?"

The general quickly brought his knee up into Roger's stomach, knocking him back. Jamie launched a fist towards his face, throwing him to the ground. Roger spit blood out of his mouth, looking up at him with a laugh, his teeth covered in blood.

"Oh, you shouldn't have done that."

Roger swept his feet out from under him, lunging at him as he fell. Jamie shoved him back, making them both fall against the wall. Jamie pushed himself forward, pinning Roger to the ground.

The black ranger brought his leg up under Jamie's and put his foot on his chest, launching the general off of him and a few feet away. Roger jumped up to his feet just as Jamie did and the two lunged for each other.

Roger aimed a punch for Jamie's stomach, but had to duck under a punch and hit the wall. He jumped up to avoid Jamie sweeping his feet out from under him, and kicked up at his face. Jamie jumped back, falling back onto his hands. He shoved himself back up and grabbed Roger's hand as another punch flew his way.

Jamie took his other fist as well when the other hand came up to throw another punch. He twisted then outwards, making Roger contort his face in pain and anger for a split second. Roger thrust his foot forward, connecting with Jamie's shin.

"You little..." Jamie growled, grabbing Roger's leg and pulling it out from under him, making him fall flat on his back.

Roger took advantage of the position and used his other leg to hook around Jamie's arm, and pulled it down swiftly. He heard a crack resound, and Jamie cried out, instantly letting go of his leg.

Jamie held his hurt arm close to his chest and glared at the black ranger, pulling a dagger out of the back of his pants with his good hand. Roger looked back, seeing the bar he had dropped on the floor. He slid back across the ground, grabbing it and putting it up against the blade just in time as it came down at him.

He shoved Jamie back and stood, holding the bar like a staff in his hands. Jamie swung the blade at him, but every time Roger would block it. The blade came from above, curved towards his head, but Roger hit the bar against Jamie's arm instead, looking up at the knife pointed directly at his head.

Roger pushed hard, but Jamie was pushing back. The black ranger, ducked and moved his head to the side as he continued to push, though also continued to see it come closer to him.

"You won't win this one," Jamie smirked, blood dripping down a cut on his face. "You're gonna lose - just Chris did."

Roger immediately shoved the bar up and ran forward, shoving Jamie up against the wall with the bar against his throat. He pushed down hard, causing Jamie to choke and push back against the bar.

"You son of a bitch!" Roger yelled. "I'll kill you!"

Jamie chuckled against the bar, a gargled sound coming out of his throat as well. "You'll never be able to live with it." He gasped out, rasping as he spoke. "Every time you'll close your eyes, you'll remember my face."

Roger nodded. "Yeah, I bet I will. I'm fine with that." Roger pushed down harder, and he could see blood coming from the back of Jamie's head. Suddenly, a shot was fired from a blaster at his bar, knocking it out of his hands and releasing Jamie to the floor. He looked to the side in shock, seeing the blue ranger standing there, her blaster pointed at him as she walked forward.

"We need to have a little chat," Cal said, holding her blaster trained on him.

 **~Cue Opening 3~**

In the throne room, Geo grabbed the chains attached to his wrists and pulled them hard, bringing himself and Terra down the ground as Valcon and Veenom trained their blasters on her and shot. She growled at him, her eyes still red for a moment.

"If I didn't do that, we'd both be dead!" He exclaimed, the two ducking back behind the throne as the two continued to shoot at them. "You're lucky."

Terra shoved him back, down on the lower level of ground behind the throne. "Maybe I'd be better off dead." She growled, glaring daggers at him. "Can't you see what I've done?!"

Geo scoffed. "All I see is someone doing something out of her control. Now, you're in control. What are you gonna do? Who's side do you want to be on?!"

"I..." Terra sighed, pulling the keys to the shackles out of her pocket, unlocking her side before unlocking his. She then grabbed his broken wrist, causing him to cry out in pain.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He exclaimed, trying to shove her off of him. Her hand began to glow red, and he began to feel a warm aura come over his arm, releasing the pain slowly. He watched as she pulled her hands away, and he moved his arm slowly, before looking back up at her. "You healed me?"

Terra nodded. "I'm in control," She said, her eyes flashing green, and staying that way. "I don't want this. I want to help."

Geo smirked. "Alright, let's do it then." He was about to stand, when she shoved her staff into his arms. "What are you doing?"

"I have other weapons. Take this. I know you don't have any." Terra said, smirking back as she gestured at them. "Are you ready?"

Geo chuckled. "More ready than I've been in a while."

The two stood up, Geo blasting back at them with Terra's staff as she ran to the side of the room, grabbing a sword off of the wall. Valcon and Veenom smirked at them, looking at the two of them, standing defensively.

"You two think you have what it takes to beat us?" Veenom laughed. "Good luck."

"We don't need luck," Ada announced as she and the other rangers, besides Cal and Roger, burst into the room, completely morphed with their swords, blasters, and weapons out. "We have strength in numbers."

Valcon and Veenom looked among the group. "Bring it on." Valcon growled.

~PRAG~

Meanwhile, Vi and Maya walked down the hallway, looking at the various empty prison cells as they passed. Maya frowned, seeing the dirt and blood all over the empty cells.

"What, exactly, are we looking for?" Maya asked, looking to Vi as she continued to diligently look around.

Vi gestured ahead. "We're looking for two prisoners." She answered shortly.

Maya raised an eyebrow. "And why would we want to look for two prisoners?"

Before Vi got to answer, a group of Chimera popped out in front of the two. They both got into fighting stances, and rushed at the group.

Vi kicked one down, and ducked under a punch from another. She swept the feet out of two standing near her, before flipping back out of the way when one came flying at her, obviously thrown to the side by Maya. She grabbed the arm of one that threw a punch at her and used it to slam into the group around her.

Maya jumped over one trying to sweep her legs out and kicked it in the back of the head, knocking it down as she punched another at the same time. She grabbed one by it's foot and flipped it over her head, throwing it into a few nearby her. Quickly, she had to duck under a sword, but grabbed it from the footsoldier and used it to stab it in response.

When Maya looked over, she could see that Vi had also grabbed a weapon from one of them, a blaster, and was fighting back against the ones around her. After they finished destroying the rest of them, the two threw the weapons down and Vi gestured ahead, quickly moving forward with Maya following after her.

"To answer your question," Vi said as she stopped in front of a cell, were two female figures sat in the dark, against the wall. It was hard to see them, but Vi knew exactly who she was looking at. "We're here to rescue them, and they're gonna help us out a bit."

The two stood and practically ran up to the cell bars, clutching them with white-knuckled fists. As they did so, they revealed themselves to the two as Riana and Julie, who looked a bit worse for wear, but were majorily alright.

Riana looked over the two. She didn't recognize them too well, but she knew they worked with Alicia and Ben. "You came to save us?" She asked, looking between them for answers.

Vi nodded. "I'm Vi, and this is Maya. We work with the rangers." She explained, making the two smile with relief. "I know you don't know them or us, but you can trust us."

"Thank you so much," Julie said, sighing in bliss. "We've been waiting for so long."

Vi sighed. "I know. I'm sorry for that. We never had a chance to save you before now, but we're here and we're going to help you."

Riana waved it off. "Don't even worry about it. You're here now." She gestured down the hall. "I believe the keys are in the throne room."

"We don't need keys," Maya smirked, pulling a blaster out as she realized what was going on. "You might wanna stand back for this." Riana and Julie moved to the back of the cell, and Maya shot the lock on the cell door. It instantly broke, and the door opened, letting Julie and Riana run out to freedom. The two grabbed them in tight hugs.

"You're the best people we've ever met," Riana whispered into Vi's ear, holding her tight as Julie did the same to Maya. "I say that so honestly."

Once they eventually pulled away, Vi looked to them. "We need one favor - to get us back to Earth. All of us."

Riana frowned in confusion for a moment, before looking at her in realization. "You mean the whole ship? Bring it down to Earth?"

Vi nodded. "Oh yes. That's exactly what I mean."

~PRAG~

Roger growled under his breath as he watched Cal walk forward, with her blaster continuously trained on him. She glanced to the side, looking at Jamie before turning back to Roger, who was obviously in a rage.

"You need to calm down," She said, holding her other hand out as a gesture to calm himself.

Roger scoffed. "You need to get that blaster out of my face. You're not gonna shoot me, Cal."

Cal sighed. "I definitely don't want to. Unfortunately, there's a major difference between want and won't." She stared at him. "Like I said - calm down."

"How the hell do you expect me to calm down when this son of a bitch is still breathing?!" Roger exclaimed, gesturing to Jamie. He wasn't moving, but his chest was rising and falling. "You know what he did, Cal!"

She nodded. "I do, but that doesn't mean you can do this."

"Do what?" He asked, hold his hands out in a defensive manner. "I'm not doing anything wrong!"

"Yes, you are." Cal stared at him, almost like she didn't even know him. "I understand that we have to stop villains, but not like this, Roger! I completely understand that you're doing this because of what he did, and I know that what he did was one of the worst things any person or.. alien could do to someone else, but you have to understand that this is not the way we handle things." She grounded out. "You were crushing him to death."

Roger pointed at Jamie. "He's a monster."

Cal looked at the general, and nodded. "I know."

"We're supposed to kill monsters."

She shook her head. "Destroy. We're supposed to destroy monsters. You know, big explosion and all. I know it doesn't sound like it, but you and I both know that there's a difference."

Roger stood there, his face contorting in emotional pain. "My brother's dead because of him!" He screamed. "I don't feel normal anymore because of him! My whole life is changed forever because of him!"

Cal took in a shaky breath, struggling to see one of her close friends like this. "I know, and I know that's the reason you're being so aggressive. You want revenge."

"Yes," Roger nodded, tears flowing. "I want it so bad."

She swallowed hard past the lump in her throat. "That's not what being a ranger is about. We can't afford to go on crazy, revenge trips - no matter why. We have to be strong and fight with honor. This isn't honorable. You're not doing this for the betterment of mankind - you're doing this for yourself. To make you feel better, and it won't help. You'll probably feel worse, honestly. You'll feel like a killer."

Roger stared at her. "So, what do I do?"

"Come with me," Cal lowered her blaster, grabbing Jamie's wrist. She began pulling him out of the room, Roger following a safe distance behind them. Cal pulled him into a cell and locked it. Afterwards, she turned to Roger, holding his morpher out to him. "Vi and Maya are in the control room, and we need to stall Valcon, Veenom, Terra -anyone and anything until then. Can you do it?"

He looked at his morpher for a moment, before he took it in his hands and put it on his wrist, the familiar feeling making him feel a bit better. "Yeah. Let's go."

~PRAG~

Geo was thrown back into the wall on the side of the throne room by Valcon, who was currently also fight off, and winning against, Ada, Benny, and Terra. Tanzo, Kay, and Nate were all in a fierce battle with Veenom on the other side of the room.

When the other rangers had come into the room, Ada had thrown him his morpher, allowing him to give Terra her staff back and morph to have his own sword.

As Terra was also thrown back, hitting the throne and landing on the other side of it, Geo shoved himself up and ran back at Valcon.

Valcon grabbed Benny and Ada by their arms, slamming them into each other as Geo ran at him. He ducked under Geo's sword, sweeping his feet out from under him. Geo growled and grabbed Valcon's feet and twisting his body to the side, knocking the general to the ground. Said general slammed his own foot down on Geo's knee and jumped back to his feet.

Ada ran back at him with her axe swinging low, and Valcon jumped over it, kicking it out of her hands. She didn't seem fazed and sent a punch flying towards his face, but Valcon easily grabbed it and twisted her wrist to the side, making her fall to one knee in an attempt to compensate for the pressure being put on her hand. Valcon, noticing this, quickly brought it back to the other side before flipping her to the ground and kicking her off to the side.

Benny jumped over Ada as she rolled to the side, ducking under Valcon's incoming fist. He tried the same move Valcon had used on Geo, by trying to sweep his feet out, but Valcon put his foot up and kicked his leg away. Benny flipped back, pulling his spear and trying to stab at him with it. Valcon ducked under the first attempt and grabbed the spear behind it's head, pulling towards him before shoving it and Benny back onto the hard ground.

Veenom ducked under a hit from Tanzo's blaster and shot him with his own, making the yellow ranger fly back into the wall just as Nate got up from the ground. Nate ran towards him with his hammer up, trying to swing down and hit the general with his heavy weapon, but Veenom moved out of the way and kicked him back.

Kay flipped through the air with her sword in her hand, coming towards Veenom but he moved back, making her stab through the floor. She quickly pulled the sword out of the ground and growled, swinging it at him. Veenom used his scythe and blocked all of her attempts to even make a nick on him. Kay continued to try at strike, but Veenom hit her sword out of her hands and struck her in the chest with his scythe.

Tanzo got back up, shooting a blast at the general. Veenom was hit, as he didn't see it coming, but it barely fazed him. Tanzo continued to shoot as he ran towards him, but Veenom blocked every shot with the blade of his scythe, reflecting back one of the shots at him, which knocked him to the ground.

Suddenly, Roger and Cal burst into the room, Roger making a beeline for Valcon while Cal ran towards Veenom.

Roger jumped to the side when Valcon shot towards him, and shot at him with his own blaster. Similar to Veenom, it barely fazed him, even as Roger continued to do it. Realizing it wasn't making much of a difference, Roger dropped his blaster and pulled out his sword, swinging it towards Valcon's arm. Expecting to be hit there, Valcon put his other arm up, but Roger swung downwards and sliced into the shapeshifter's leg.

Valcon growled in pain and grabbed the sword, pulling it out of his leg and throwing it to the side. He grabbed Roger by the throat and hoisted him up, shoving him hard against the wall.

"You and your friends will never beat me," He growled. "Never."

Roger struggled against his hold, hitting at his hands as Valcon laughed.

Cal wasn't doing much better against Veenom. She jumped back as he swung his scythe at her, but he quickly lunged forward and shoved her with the broad end of the blade, making her fall to the ground. He held his scythe up. "Any last words?" He smirked.

She looked around, seeing all of the others laying on the ground and Roger being choked by Valcon. She cringed, waiting for a blow that never came. Suddenly, the ship tilted, causing Veenom to fall over and Valcon to drop Roger, who kicked at his injured leg and made him fall over as well.

Veenom looked up, and turned towards Valcon. "What the hell is going on?"

Cal pushed herself up. "We're getting out of here, whether you like it or not, you sons of bitches." She growled. "Come on guys! Now!"

Despite their injuries, all of the rangers managed to push themselves up. Tanzo ran over behind the throne and picked up the injured and unconscious Terra, who was laying limp on the ground, and joined the others as they grouped up in the middle of the room, all looking to Veenom and Valcon.

"Good luck surviving this," Ada smirked, letting Geo lead her and the others out of the room.

Valcon and Veenom tried to stand, but the ship swerved the other side, knocking them back over. "What are they doing? They're not only going to kill us, but they're going to kill themselves!" Veenom exclaimed.

Valcon narrowed his eyes. "Oh, they have a plan, but so do I." He smirked. "Goodbye, Veenom. I'm happy to be the last thing you see."

"What?" Veenom stared at Valcon in shock as they suddenly lurched forward and the ship crashed into the ground, exploding into flames.

~PRAG~

Alicia and Ben ran down to the empty field in the forest nearby, hoping to get to the rangers in time. They had found Vi and Maya's note, reading about their plan to crash Terra's ship in the forest, and immediately the two mentors rushed over there, trying to get there to save them.

Alicia jumped over a log, sprinting faster than Ben, who was keeping an eye out for any aliens in the area, though he didn't see any.

Suddenly, they heard a large explosion that rocked the ground like an earthquake and knocked them both off balance, causing them to fall to the ground as they ran.

"No!" Alicia cried out, pushing herself back to her feet as she ran in the direction of the sound, finding the ship in a large area of crushed trees and fire. "No, no, no, no! Guys! Where are you?!" She called out, looking around.

Ben met up with her, and put a hand on her shoulder as she shoved herself into his chest, sobbing as it seemed impossible that the rangers weren't in the ship. However, as they both grieved for a moment, Ben noticed a group of people, looking pretty banged up, walking towards them. When he saw them, he frantically tapped on Alicia's shoulder, gesturing to them.

She stared at them as they limped towards the two, some of them obviously only barely standing. "Guys? Vi? Maya?" She asked, tears welling up in her eyes. "You're okay?" She asked, running over and grabbing Vi and Maya, pulling them in for a tight hug, before suddenly pulling away. "How the hell did you survive that?"

"We jumped." Maya said simply, groaning in pain as she held her shoulder close to her. "So, do you think we could get back to Ranger Ops and you could fix us up? I mean, we worked hard to get back here."

Alicia laughed in relief. "Definitely." She hugged the two again, before looking over and seeing Riana, Julie, and Terra, though the evil queen was still unconscious in Tanzo's arms. "You saved them?" She asked, staring at the three in shock.

"Well, we never had a chance to before." Vi said, smiling back at Riana and Julie. "We were hoping you could help them out too."

Ben nodded, wrapping an arm around his wife. "We'd be happy too."

"So," Geo said, he and Roger supporting each other's weight, similarly to something most of the others were doing in pairs. "Does that invitation extend to us, too?

"I don't know," Alicia crossed her arms. "Should it?"

Geo held up his wrist, along with the others. "I would really, really hope so. It would be hard to explain these injuries to a doctor."

Alicia chuckled, and then nodded, gesturing for them to follow her. "Of course it does." She smiled softly at them. "Come on. Let's get you guys back."

As the group stumbled away from the wreckage, they failed to see Valcon walk out from behind it with an army of Chimera behind him. He looked almost completely unscathed, and the Chimera only looked a bit worse for wear. Behind them, were the only two monsters left in the army. Valcon turned back to all of them.

"Well, it looks like it's just us now." Valcon smirked. "The rangers have no idea what they're in for."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** In the aftermath, the rangers recover and a few of them have to handle some of their prior engagements before they can fully step back into rhythm.

 **Next Chapter Title:** Prior Engagements

 **Okay, I really enjoyed writing this action packed chapter. The next one won't really have any action, as it's mostly the aftermath of this one, but now they don't really have much to fight against anymore, huh?**

 **Valcon's officially in charge of the final aliens in the Animali army, and he's going to be the big bad that the rangers are going to face off against. As for Terra, you'll see what's happening with her in the next chapter.**

 **Here's the lineup for the final four chapters.**

 **Ep 28: Help Yourself -** Nate and Ada focused.

 **Ep 29: Bullies -** Benny and Cal focused.

 **Special: Rainbow Fighters -** Preview of future story.

 **Ep 30: Guardians Forever! -** Finale!

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and let me know your thoughts if you have time! See you soon!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	29. Ep 27: Prior Engagements

**Hey guys, here's the next chapter! This is basically just a simple filler after the previous chapter, and it really doesn't have much to do other than help transition the rangers back into actually being rangers. Obviously, since they've been gone a year, they have a few things to take care of before devoting their time back into it.**

 **Oh, and I (hopefully) plan on updating everyday for the next five days to finish, which would put the finale on the 1st of September. Let's see if I'll actually follow through.**

* * *

 **Last time on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

She stared at them as they limped towards the two, some of them obviously only barely standing. "Guys? Vi? Maya?" She asked, tears welling up in her eyes. "You're okay?" She asked, running over and grabbing Vi and Maya, pulling them in for a tight hug, before suddenly pulling away. "How the hell did you survive that?"

"We jumped." Maya said simply, groaning in pain as she held her shoulder close to her. "So, do you think we could get back to Ranger Ops and you could fix us up? I mean, we worked hard to get back here."

Alicia laughed in relief. "Definitely." She hugged the two again, before looking over and seeing Riana, Julie, and Terra, though the evil queen was still unconscious in Tanzo's arms. "You saved them?" She asked, staring at the three in shock.

"Well, we never had a chance to before." Vi said, smiling back at Riana and Julie. "We were hoping you could help them out too."

Ben nodded, wrapping an arm around his wife. "We'd be happy too."

"So," Geo said, he and Roger supporting each other's weight, similarly to something most of the others were doing in pairs. "Does that invitation extend to us, too?

"I don't know," Alicia crossed her arms. "Should it?"

Geo held up his wrist, along with the others. "I would really, really hope so. It would be hard to explain these injuries to a doctor."

Alicia chuckled, and then nodded, gesturing for them to follow her. "Of course it does." She smiled softly at them. "Come on. Let's get you guys back."

As the group stumbled away from the wreckage, they failed to see Valcon walk out from behind it with an army of Chimera behind him. He looked almost completely unscathed, and the Chimera only looked a bit worse for wear. Behind them, were the only two monsters left in the army. Valcon turned back to all of them.

"Well, it looks like it's just us now." Valcon smirked. "The rangers have no idea what they're in for."

 **Now**

A few hours after the wreck, the rangers were treated for their injuries and sent home. This was the first time home in a while for some of them, but for Benny and Roger, it wasn't.

Roger had said goodbye to his friends and walked back to his house, were he found EJ sitting on the front steps, looking worried and afraid, almost. He approached her carefully, startling her when he got close.

"EJ?" He asked, looking her over. "Are you alright?"

EJ jumped to her feet. "Me?! You're the one who was kidnapped!"

Roger stared at her for a moment. "What did you see?"

"Only some guy slamming your head into the car and then _disappearing_ with you," EJ crossed her arms. "Who are you and what the hell is going on?"

He gestured towards the house. "Maybe we should go inside and talk about this."

She moved when he walked closer to her and the house. "No. Tell me what's going on - I won't go in that house with you otherwise."

Roger sighed. "Look, it's complicated."

"I have time to listen." EJ said. "What the hell is going on?" She repeated.

He looked around, before nodding his head. "Alright, look, that was shapeshifter that grabbed me, okay? He was one of the aliens that would attack Earth every now and then. Are you with me so far?"

"Even if that's true," EJ started, "Which it doesn't seem like - why would a shapeshifter/alien.. thing want you? Wouldn't they attack one of the..." She paused as he lifted his wrist, showing his morpher. She stared between it and his face in shock. "Rangers." She finished with a confused look.

"So, do you believe me now?" Roger asked, searching her face for any sense of her believing him.

EJ continued to stare at his wrist. "I.. umm.." Her mouth felt dry, and she had no idea what to say. "You? How?"

"I don't know," He shrugged. "I was chosen, I guess. Like I said, it's complicated. It's not really something we're supposed to tell civilians, but you didn't really give me a choice, did you?" He smirked at her, and she blushed slightly. "You know you can't tell anyone, right? It's dangerous for others to know."

She nodded. "Okay, I won't." EJ told him, before gesturing to the house. "I guess we should probably go inside then. The baby might need something," She said, trying to act nonchalant.

Roger chuckled. "So, I guess that means you trust me?"

EJ smirked. "How could I not? You save people for a living - that's pretty trustworthy to me. Come on, let's get inside. It's getting late."

 **~Cue Opening 3~**

At the command center, Vi, Maya, Riana, and Julie watched through the glass window into the infirmary as Alicia looked over the unconscious Terra. She was deeply under, and didn't seem to have any opportunity to wake up anytime soon. Normally, under such circumstances, they would take her to a hospital, but because she was an alien, that obviously wasn't an option.

Soon, Alicia came out of the infirmary and sighed. "I don't know when, or if, she's gonna wake up, honestly."

"What happened?" Riana asked, looking through the window at her unconscious cousin.

Alicia shrugged. "I can't be certain, but I don't completely believe her unconscious state is completely due to her injuries. You mentioned she would rest to regain her evil abilities, but as of my examination, I don't think she has them anymore."

"So, then why would she still be out?" Vi asked, crossing her arm with a confused look on her face.

"I think it could be due to her body attempting to gain back the evil that isn't there anymore. The implant in her head was almost automatically deactivated when Valcon told her the truth. Before that, she was completely unaware of it. Now, if she was truly evil without it, it wouldn't have made much of a difference, but as you can see," She gestured towards the room. "It did."

Maya nodded. "She was just being controlled this whole time, then?"

"Yes, I can confirm that." Alicia said.

Julie looked through the window. "Is there anything we can do to wake her? Anything at all?"

Alicia shook her head. "No, it's really up to her."

Riana scoffed. "No, it's not. It's up to my father, who, even in his death, was horrible and probably knew that this would happen."

"He most likely did," Alicia nodded. "I'm sorry. All I can say is that I know she's still alive."

Riana sighed, and nodded. "Okay, well what do you think would happen if she did wake up?"

"Well, she could potentially be fine," She responded, "But, there is a chance that she could have brain damage or something. I honestly couldn't tell you - I only know human medicine, not alien."

"Okay," Riana said, looking back in at her cousin. _I won't let anything happen to you,_ She thought, _you're safe now. I promise._

~PRAG~

"Dude!" Mo exclaimed as he, Hector, and Lainey ran into Tanzo's garage, finding him there, tuning his guitar. "We heard you got kidnapped! Was it totally amazing or what?"

Tanzo chuckled. "That's not exactly what happened. " He shook his head. "We just.. got slightly sidetracked."

Lainey put her hands on her hips. "That can't be true. That's so lame."

He looked up at her, raising an eyebrow at her. "Wow, I'm surprised you're talking to me, Lainey. I thought it was business talk only." He muttered, looking back down and continuing his task.

She scoffed. "Who said that?"

"You," Tanzo told her. "About at the time when you broke up with me for Mo."

Lainey crossed her arms. "That's because you couldn't take anything seriously and you totally let the fame go to your head!" She growled. "Maybe if you straightened up, I'd be interested in you again." She said, earning a look from Mo, who pulled away from her. "Oh, don't be a baby, Mo."

"Don't talk to me like that." Mo said, glaring at her. "I don't appreciate being a rebound, just for you to go back if Tanzo changes for you."

"You don't have to worry about that," Tanzo scoffed. "I'm not gonna change for her, and, even if I did, it wouldn't matter because I'm not interested in her." He looked around at the three. "Or the band - not anymore."

Hector stopped Lainey or Mo from speaking by putting his hand up. "Wait, you're quitting the band?" He frowned. "But, you're our lead guitarist. We can't play without you."

Tanzo sighed. "You guys could always hold auditions for a new one." He shrugged. "Look, I'm sorry, guys, but I don't think this is for me. I got too sidetracked with everything going on that I lost sight of what was really important. Now that we're back, I understand that. I just can't loose my focus anymore. We can still be friends, though." He offered them a friendly smile.

Lainey scoffed. "No way. I'm out of here." She looked to Mo. "You coming, or not?"

"Yeah," Mo nodded, throwing Tanzo a look, before following her out.

Hector sat down next to his long time friend. "I'm actually glad you're doing this. Sometimes, forgetting the important things is fun for a while, but you can't do it forever. I'm happy you can see that and hopefully have a goal in mind."

"I do," Tanzo nodded. "Thanks, Hector."

"Anytime, man." Hector patted him on the shoulder and stood. "I'll see you around."

Tanzo gave him an appreciative smile. "See you around."

~PRAG~

Nate and Kay walked silently in the direction of their houses together, awkwardly making glances at each other once in a while. Given how awkward it was, neither of them really wanted to walk together, but their houses were in the same direction and they both knew they had to talk.

"So," Kay said quietly. "How's your shoulder?"

Nate glanced at her. While his powers had stemmed most of the bleeding that came from the wound in his shoulder, it was still pretty badly injured and made him wear a sling. "It doesn't hurt that bad. Alicia gave me some pain meds, so it's okay." He said, before the two lapsed into silence once more. That was, until Nate broke it. "Kay?" He asked.

She looked over at him. "Yeah?"

Nate sighed. "Why'd you do it?"

"What do you mean?" Kay frowned in confusion.

He took a deep breath. "I mean, why'd you break up with me?" He asked, making her look off to the side. "I thought we were doing really good, you know? I almost thought we.. loved each other." The two often wouldn't have said love, mostly due to them waiting for the right moment.

"We were - we did," Kay said, pulling him over to sit on a bench in the park near her house. The two sat next to each other, and faced the other person. "I just.. it's complicated."

"What's so complicated about it?" Nate asked. "Is it just because you fell deeper in love with someone else?"

Kay shook her head immediately. "No, no - it's not like that at all."

Nate crossed his arms. "Then what is it like?" He looked down at the ground.

"I..." She sighed. "Do you know how my parents are?" She asked, prompting him to nod. "Okay, well, I don't want to be like them, Nate. I don't want to be stuck somewhere while the love of my life roams the country for any reason. I want to stay and live with or around the person I love. I guess I get scared to be like them - to be alone, without you."

"So, you still love me?" He asked, looking back up at her. "You don't love your boyfriend more than me?"

Kay chuckled a bit. "No one could ever beat you. Besides, me and him broke up after a week because we didn't get along," She smiled, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. She gestured down the street. "Would you like to walk me home?" She asked, touching his hand lightly.

"Of course," He took her hand in his uninjured one as they stood. "I would love to."

~PRAG~

After giving an excuse to her mother about why she had left her car out in the middle of the desert in Nevada, Cal made her way upstairs to her room with Ada following close behind her. Once they got in the room and shut the door, Cal let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"I hate lying to her," Cal said. "My mom is a great person and it just feels so wrong, you know?"

Ada nodded. "It really must."

Cal sighed. "Yeah, but I guess it's just what I have to do. If I tell her, it might put her in danger - plus, she'd be really, really worried about me."

"That probably wouldn't be a good idea," Ada chuckled, sitting on Cal's bed. She looked around. "I like your room."

Cal smirked at her. "You always say that."

"Yeah, because it's cute, you know," Ada gestured around. "It has a little bit of charm to it."

"I'm glad you think so," Cal laughed. "It was painted and all that stuff when I was a baby, and the only thing that's really changed is the decor and the bed."

"Well, I love it," Ada smiled, pulling her close and kissing her passionately. They were interrupted by a tapping on the window. They both turned, Ada immediately tensing, when they saw Luna, Cal's cat, sitting outside the window.

Cal immediately reached over and opened the window, letting the gray cat in the house and quickly into her lap. "Luna, I missed you too." She kissed Luna on the top of her head, before look up at Ada, who was staring at the cat distrustfully. "What's wrong?"

Ada chuckled nonchalantly. "I just didn't know you had a cat. I thought your mom didn't want any pets."

"She didn't." Cal pet the cat in her lap. "But, since I was leaving, I told her about Luna and she finally agreed to make her officially our cat. Albeit, still our outdoor cat, but she gets to come in every night and go out in the morning after she eats."

The crimson ranger nodded awkwardly. "I see."

Cal noticed the continuing look on her face and realized something. "Are you afraid of her?"

Ada sighed. "There was a traumatic incident when I was kid, so yes, I am afraid of her. I know it's stupid and random, but it true."

"Well, that cat may have been bad, but Luna won't hurt you. She's never scratched me, and I've had her for a while," Cal said. "Do you want to hold her? Maybe face your fear a bit?"

Ada looked at Luna, who also turned her yellow eyes up at her as she purred rather loudly. "Umm.. okay."

"Okay," Cal scooted right up against Ada and moved her gently over onto Ada's lap. The crimson ranger tensed up a bit, but Cal put an arm around her shoulder for comfort. "See, she likes you." Cal chuckled as Luna purred and rubbed against Ada.

"Yeah, I guess she does," Ada said, petting her lightly, causing the cat to purr even louder.

~PRAG~

Geo walked Benny home, the teal ranger having to pick up his laptop and case from Carlyle's before heading off towards his brother's house. Geo had offered to go with him, not only to keep him company, but also to catch up on the time they had missed.

"So, you came back alone?" Benny asked Geo as they had gotten into a conversation about Geo coming back.

Geo nodded. "Yeah, my dad wanted to stay with his relatives for a while longer before coming back." He smiled. "So, how's your family doing?"

Benny shrugged. "Ehh. It's been hard dealing with what happened to Nicole and all. It's almost as if they're blaming me because I was the one who told them, you know? It's just not the same."

The red ranger put a hand on his shoulder. "I bet. That sounds really hard - I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do to help."

"It's fine," Benny smiled up at him. "You're just helping by being here and you saying that makes me feel better."

Geo wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "I'm glad." He said as they approached Benny's house. "So, will I see you tomorrow?"

Benny nodded. "Oh yeah. I was actually hoping we could, maybe, do something - you know, just the two of us?"

"Really?" Geo asked, smiling a bit.

The teal ranger nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking we could hang out like how.. friends do.. I mean, we..." Suddenly, Benny was cut off when Geo pulled him in close and kissed him on the lips. He was shocked for a moment, before he grabbed Geo's face and kissed back.

After a few moments, the two pulled apart, both blushing slightly. "I'm sorry," Geo said awkwardly. "I've just.. I've been waiting for that for a while."

Benny smiled up at him, and nodded. "Don't worry, I've been too." Benny grabbed him and hugged him tightly, Geo hugging back as well. "I'm so glad you did that." He whispered. "I was about to awkwardly ask you to hang out as friends, but now we don't have to worry about that," They both chuckled.

"So, Carlyle's tomorrow?" Geo asked, almost breathlessly.

Benny shook his head. "No, we're going somewhere really nice. It's gonna be perfect." He said, kissing him on the cheek before pulling away as he saw the light in his house turn on. "I gotta go, but I'll definitely be seeing you tomorrow."

"Yeah, for sure," Geo touched his cheek as he watched Benny retreat into the house, before walking back in the direction of his own house.

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Ada and Nate learn that selflessness is a virtue, but can also be dangerous when they both get seriously hurt in a battle.

 **Next Chapter Title:** Help Yourself

 **So, if you were wondering, Ada's fear of cats was originally completely random and I had no intentions of bringing it back, but I decided it could make for a cute moment between her and Cal.** **Also, I finally made Geo and Benny official in this chapter! I know you guys probably knew this was going to happen and were waiting for it since it was revealed that Benny was Geo's boyfriend in his Fear Factor chapter.**

 **This is also not the end for Terra. There will be more expanded upon her, Riana, and Julie in three of the next four chapters (since one is a preview of the next series, it won't have them in it).**

 **Oh, and now that everything is majorily back to normal, the finale is approaching. The finale will only have one part as the next two chapters will be 'lead up' chapters, while also having some final character developments.**

 **Here's the lineup for the final three chapters.**

 **Ep 29: Bullies -** Benny and Cal focused.

 **Special: Rainbow Fighters -** Preview of future story.

 **Ep 30: Guardians Forever! -** Finale!

 **Only four chapters left! I hope you guys enjoyed this, and I'll see you (hopefully) tomorrow with a new update!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	30. Ep 28: Help Yourself

**Hey guys! So, I already broke my little promise about updating everyday until I was done, but I'll still be done rather quickly, with the latest being the 3rd - though I may double update. Anyways, here's the chapter!**

* * *

Ada sat in the guest bedroom at Cal's house, looking at her phone in worry. She had gotten a text from Kassidy, saying TJ had gotten a pretty bad head injury at work and she was waiting for any news.

While she waited, she wondered briefly if Kassidy and TJ had gotten her letter. When she left the house before they had awoken, she had left a letter on the table, and she could remember everything it said very vividly.

 _TJ and Kassidy,_

 _Well, I don't really know how to start, so I think I should just come out and say it. I've left to go back to Welch County, and I urge you NOT to follow me. I know you may want to - I know you might - but I really hope you don't._

 _I need to do my job, and that job involves saving the world. I should've never left in the first place, but I knew that I had prior engagements with both of you. It's not your fault, it's mom's, but that doesn't matter. I still have to leave._

 _If I don't, the world and everyone in it, including both of you, are at stake, and I can't let that happen. I care too much about you guys and everyone around me that I can't just let it go like this._

 _I'm with Cal, my girlfriend. I think you remember her? I'm staying with her and her mother. I'm sorry that I'm doing this so sudden and without warning, and I know this isn't much of a goodbye, but I don't have a choice. Then again, even if I did, it probably wouldn't make much of a difference._

 _I'm okay. I'm safe - and so are you because of this. Call me if you need anything, and I'll still always be here for both of you. Hopefully I'll come back and see you one day._

 _I love you both so much._

 _Ada._

She took a deep breath, knowing that it was impossible that they didn't. She wondered how they felt about it, and if it made them angry or something. Kassidy hadn't mentioned it when she called, but that could be because she was flustered.

Her phone rang, and she picked it up on the first ring. "Hello?"

 _"Ada?"_ It was TJ, not Kassidy. He sounded tired. _"Kassidy's driving us back home, so I had to call for her. I can't exactly drive right now."_ He chuckled half-heartedly on the other end, and Ada's heart sank at the sound of it and his voice. She missed both of them so much.

Ada nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "How are you? Are you alright?"

He cleared his throat. _"Yeah. I have a concussion, but I'm okay. How are you?"_

"I'm not the one that just got smacked in the head with a piece of wood," Ada muttered. "I'm more concerned about you."

TJ scoffed. _"I'm okay. I asked you how you were. We haven't seen you for a few weeks now, and we're both wondering how you're doing. We miss you."_

Ada clutched her phone tighter. "I miss you too - a lot more than you know."

 _"How are you?"_ He repeated, asking a bit more firmly.

She sighed. "I'm fine. I'm staying with Cal and her mother, and I'm safe." Ada told him, repeating some of the things she wrote in her letter.

 _"Have you seen mom yet?"_ TJ asked, unspoken words behind the simple question.

"No," Ada said. "But I'm going to. I know I just act like she doesn't exist sometimes, but I have to go see her - see what she's been doing, I guess."

 _"Be careful,"_ He told her. _"You know that could be a very bad idea."_

Ada took a deep breath. "Could be, but it needs to be done." She heard a knock at the door. "Hey, I got to go, but I'll talk to you later, alright? Get better, okay?"

He laughed. _"Okay - I'll talk to you later. Love you."_

"Love you too," Ada smiled to herself. "Bye," She said, hanging up as Cal's mother, Rebecca, came into the room.

Rebecca saw her put her phone away. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt?" She asked, gesturing back out of the room.

"Oh, not at all," Ada lied. "Is there something I can do for you, Ms. Campbell?"

She chuckled and sat on the bed next to her. "Please, call me Rebecca." She looked down for a moment, before looking back up at Ada. "I know this is a bit of an odd thing to ask, but, as Cal's mother, I wanted to know if you and her had.. done anything yet?"

Ada stared at her for moment, almost too shocked to blush. "Umm.. well..." She didn't really know what to say, but before she could come up with something, Rebecca nodded.

"You know, it's alright." Rebecca said, giving her a small smile. "No matter what you guys do, I trust my daughter, and I trust you. I wouldn't let you stay here otherwise. So, if you did happen to stay in.. her room for the night, that would be alright, considering that you are both adults and I trust you know what you're doing."

The crimson ranger nodded. "Of course."

"Okay," Rebecca stood. "I just want to.. you know, make sure you both were.. okay."

Ada smiled a bit. "I understand, Rebecca." As Rebecca was about to leave the room, Ada stopped her. "Hey, I was wondering, is it okay if I, maybe, could get a ride over to my mother's house? I know you've heard about her from Cal, and you probably would advise me against it, but I just want to see what's going on over there."

Rebecca reached into her pocket and pulled out her keys, handing them over to Ada. "Take Cal with you - I don't want you to go alone, alright?" Ada nodded. "Be careful, okay?"

Ada nodded again. "Of course. Thank you."

 **~Cue Opening 3~**

Nate sat in the park, rubbing his still sore shoulder. While it had been a few weeks and it had mostly healed, at least enough to fight with, it was still sore and tender to the touch. He was sitting at the batting cages, watching kids and teens bat during their free time, quite impressed with a few of them.

Walking over to him was Kay, holding an ice pack in her hand and offering it to him. He took it gratefully and pressed it against his aching shoulder, the cold pack instantly making the pain lessen.

She sat down beside him. "Maybe you should tell Alicia that you still need a bit of time to heal," Kay commented, gesturing to his shoulder. "I mean, that was a pretty bad injury."

Nate shrugged slightly. "It's okay. I'd rather help people however I can than take more time off and risk others and you all getting hurt." He muttered. "In other news, I'm sure you heard about Geo and Benny?" He asked, though it sounded more like a statement than a question.

Kay nodded. "Yeah - I'm really happy for them."

"I know," Nate chuckled. "It's about time, huh?"

She laughed. "Exactly, but you know, it takes time to get to know a person, so maybe that's why they were waiting."

"Maybe. It could also be because they were both too shy to ask each other," Nate suggested.

"No, not Benny - maybe Geo, but definitely not Benny," Kay said. "He's a nice guy and he's not afraid of what others think of him - in fact, it probably irritates him more than anything when someone does bother him about things like that."

Nate nodded. "I can agree with you on that. So..." He spoke, but got cut off by their morphers beeping simultaneously. Nate put the ice pack down as the two stood up. "Let's go."

"Right," Kay said, following him as they ran out of the park.

~PRAG~

Geo, Roger, Tanzo, and Benny were all at Ben's boxing studio, with Vi and Maya watching them all train. While Geo and Roger usually paired up, and Tanzo and Benny would, they had switched so Benny and Geo would be paired up, as would Tanzo and Roger.

While Vi and Maya understood why they preferred this, as Geo and Benny were now an item, but it was obvious that this wasn't a very good idea. Because the teams had been set up for a while now, switching just made it difficult for the rangers to adjust to the new fighting style of the person they were sparring with.

Geo was a bit taller than Tanzo, and was even taller than Benny, so punches usually directed at Tanzo's face would land towards Geo's chin or neck. While Benny and Roger were the same height, Geo had to get used to the fact that Benny was a bit more muscular and stronger, while Roger was more lean and faster, so the red ranger would aim punches that were much too fast not to hit the teal ranger, and Benny's punches packed more power behind them than Roger's, making it take longer to recover from one.

Meanwhile, Roger and Tanzo were having similar problems. Since Tanzo was shorter than Geo, Roger tended to punch towards his forehead rather than his face, and when he punched towards his body, he would aim upwards, hitting him in the shoulder or neck. Tanzo wasn't used to how fast Roger could move and got punched and kicked more often than he would with Benny, and, though these punches weren't as strong, they came in a lot faster and more often.

Not only that, but skill level played a role in their struggles as well. Benny was the most skilled, as he, Nate, and Ada had trained for this and known about it a lot longer than the others. Geo and Roger were second to that, along with Cal, since they were the first to actually become rangers. Finally, Tanzo was on the bottom with Kay, as they came in later than Geo, Roger, and Cal, and had not trained prior to becoming rangers.

This didn't mean they were skilled, but it definitely had an affect on their styles and how well they did against certain people.

Vi turned to Maya, "Maybe you should stop them," She said. "They're not doing so well."

Maya nodded. "I think you're right." The boxer stepped forward, clapping her hands together loudly to gain the attention of the rangers, who turned to her as she did so. "Hey, guys, I think you should switch back to your original sparring partners." She told them.

Geo breathed heavily, and put his hands on his hips. "Why?"

"I'm pretty sure you can tell why," Maya almost chuckled. "I'm not against you guys switching it up - it does help you get accustom to other fight styles, but I'm afraid you guys are gonna hurt each other. Besides, at this point, I don't think we have much left to fight and you'll very likely be alright in the final few fights without doing this." As Benny opened his mouth, Maya put up a hand. "And yes, I know that's not why you did this, but still."

Roger crossed his arms. "So, these are our final few fights, huh?" He sighed. "Wow, we've really come a long way."

Tanzo nodded. "Isn't it just crazy?"

"Yeah, we really..." Geo started to say, but was cut off by the alarm in the studio going off. They all looked to Vi and Maya, who gestured out.

"There's a fight on West Jefferson street - right in the middle of town." Vi told them. "Hurry - there's two monsters."

Geo nodded, gesturing for the others to follow him. "Alright - come on guys." He told them, leading them out of the boxing studio.

~PRAG~

Ada and Cal arrived outside of the former's mother's house, which actually look significantly better than it used to. Ada frowned as she stepped out of the car, Cal doing the same on the other side.

"Wow, it looks better," Ada commented. "But, appearance means nothing - it could be a hell hole inside."

Cal looked to her as she walked closer. "You want me to stay out here?"

Ada nodded. "Yeah, thanks," She smiled at her girlfriend as she approached the door and knocked. Ada waited a few moments, before the door opened, revealing Veronica, who looked quite a bit better than she did one year prior. "Mom?" She asked, looking her over - taking in her work attire and made up face.

"Adelaide," Veronica said, looking down guiltily. "What are you doing here?"

"Umm.. I wanted to see how you were doing but I guess you're doing fine," Ada said, still a bit shocked. "You look.. different."

Veronica nodded. "Yeah, I got a job and someone to.. stay with me."

Ada frowned. "Who?"

"Hey, Veronica, who's at the door?" A male voice called as the person came forward, standing next to her at the door when he froze at the sight of Ada, who also reacted in a similar way. "Oh my God.. Ada?" He stuttered, looking her over. "You're so.. much older than the last time I saw you."

The crimson ranger stared for a moment before her eyes narrowed. "I would think so - I was only five when you left, dad." She said, a slight growl to her voice as she spoke. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Her father, Zachary, looked around awkwardly. "Umm.. I don't..." He was cut off when Ada's morpher beeped from her wrist. She looked down at it, before looking back up at him.

Ada sighed. "I have to go - besides, it was a mistake coming here. I don't even know why I came or what I wanted from this but I know that this wasn't it." She shook her head. "Goodbye," She took one last look at the two before she ran over to the car and jumped in, letting Cal drive them off in the direction of the battle.

~PRAG~

Benny groaned as he was whacked back by the tail of Scorpion, who was one of the monsters that the team was fighting. He, Tanzo, Nate, and Kay were fighting him off, while Geo and Roger handled Bison, the other monster, until Ada and Cal showed up to help out.

Scorpion grabbed Tanzo with it's extendable tail and slammed him into the ground a few times, before throwing him off to the side and into a car, putting him down for the moment.

Kay jumped over Benny with her blaster, running forward and shooting constantly at the monster as he tried to block every shot with his tail. She growled and kicked his tail down, blasting him at close ranger, jumping back to avoid the backlash. Scorpion smirked and shot a quill out of his tail, which Kay jumped away from as she ran back towards him. He quickly backhanded her hard, making her fly to the side.

Nate flipped over a nearby car and slashed down at Scorpion with his sword. Unfortunately, the alien saw this coming and grabbed his sword, snatching it out of his hands and throwing it off to the side. Scorpion then quickly punched him multiple times in the stomach, making his suit spark and making him fall to the ground not far away.

Bison quickly threw a fist at Roger, who ducked under it and tried to sweep his feet out from under him. Since Bison was incredibly strong, it hardly fazed him in the slightest, and he instead used his foot to kick up hard at Roger's helmeted face, making him fly back towards a tree.

Geo then ran in, swinging his sword low at Bison's feet, but the alien kicked his sword out of his hands and made Geo jump back. Geo tried not to let it affect him as he pulled out his blaster, shooting at the monster's chest, though it didn't do too much to him. Bison quickly grabbed Geo's blaster and ripped it from his hands, using it to beat him to the ground.

"Geo!" Cal yelled, running in quickly and allowing Ada to stop the car, much to the latter's chagrin. She took out her own blaster and shot at Bison's hand, making him throw the weapon from his hands. He growled and ran to Cal, grabbing her by her throat without a second thought and raising her up into the air, effectively cutting off her air supply.

Similarly to this, Scorpion had wrapped his tail tightly around Kay's midsection, squeezing her body hard, causing her to have trouble breathing as well. She struggled to escape his grasp, to no avail.

Ada and Nate, who had grouped up when the crimson ranger helped the silver to his feet, quickly angered at the sight of their girlfriend's being attacked.

Nate ran for Kay immediately, taking out his sword and slamming it down on Scorpion's tail, making him throw Kay from his grasp. Scorpion hissed loudly at Nate and immediately used his injured tail to stab Nate in his shoulder, exactly where he had been stabbed before. Nate cried out and his vision went black at the edges. Despite this, the silver ranger continued to try to fight, but was quickly thrown to the side, demorphing as he fell unconscious.

Ada also ran for Cal, using her axe to swing up at Bison's arm, making him drop Cal. Bison yelled out loudly in pain and huffed as he grabbed the crimson ranger and slammed her hard into the ground. She gasped as the air was knocked out of her, and the last thing she saw was Bison's foot coming down at her before everything went black.

~PRAG~

As Ada came to, she found herself looking up at a white ceiling with a sterile smell surrounding her. She heard rhythmic beeping coming from beside her, and instantly knew she was in a hospital. Turning to the side, she expected to see Cal, but instead saw Maya sitting next to her bed, her arms crossed over her chest. Behind her, she could see Nate in the next bed over with Vi sitting with him.

"Maya?" Ada asked, sitting up slightly, wincing in pain as she did so. "What's going on?"

Maya sat up, and pushed her back down, opting to use the bed to allow Ada to sit up instead. "You know, you two did something pretty stupid," She commented, making Ada frown. "You have multiple broken ribs and bruising to your right lung," She gestured over her shoulder. "He's lost a bit of blood, got new stitches, and has a sprained wrist." Maya shook her head. "When will you two learn?"

Ada made a face. "What do you mean?"

"You need to stop putting yourselves in danger to save others, especially when there's more ways to save them than you did," Maya muttered. "You could've shot the arm and then came in with your axe, and probably wouldn't have ended up in the hospital."

Ada crossed her arms. "Cal was in danger."

Maya nodded. "And now she's back in battle and you and Nate are in the hospital."

Nate, who had overheard their conversation, sat up to look over at them, "They're back in battle right now?"

"Yeah, they had to," Vi said. "We came to get you and bring you here while they had to follow Bison and Scorpion to another place."

"We have to go then." Ada said, trying to get out of bed, making Maya stop her.

"Are you insane?" Maya gave her a look. "You could die if you go out there, and hurt the others. Your little selflessness between both of you is great - it's an amazing trait to have, but it's also very dangerous for you and people around you and I don't think either of you realize that."

Ada pushed her away and pulled her IV's out, before stepping out of bed and clutching her ribs as she did so. "I'm going to get out of here and help the others because that's what I do. It might be dangerous, but I can't just stand by and let these things happen." Nate also got out of his bed. "Please, help us help them."

Vi nodded, put her hand up to stop Maya from speaking. "Alright, here," She handed both of them one small white pill each. "Alicia gave these to me to use on a rainy day - they won't make you tired or anything, they'll heal you." She noticed their distrustful looks. "Just take them and trust me. If you really want to help them, you'll take it."

"Okay," Ada and Nate looked between each other as they both took the pills. They waited for the almost inevitable drowsiness, but it never came. In fact, they felt stronger and more awake than before. Ada looked down at herself, a bit shocked. "So, you weren't lying, huh?"

Vi chuckled. "I guess not," She gestured out. "Go; the battle's at Welch Park."

Nate and Ada nodded, before running out of the room, just as Vi's phone rang. "Hello?" She answered, looking to Maya after the other person spoke for a few moments. She seemed concerned and shocked. "What?! Okay, we'll get there."

"What's going on?" Maya asked, watching Vi put her phone away.

Vi still seemed shocked. "Valcon's sent his final group of Chimera into the city. Alicia thinks this is a full scale invasion, and said to get ourselves and the rangers to the boxing studio ASAP. She's going to stay at Ranger Ops to monitor the situation."

"Okay, let's go," Maya said, grabbing Vi's hand and pulling her as the two sprinted out of the hospital.

~PRAG~

At the fight, Geo hissed in pain as he hit the ground once more, similarly to the others. Most of them had injuries and were already on the ground demorphed, which Geo felt like he was about to.

He still pushed himself back up and stood, along with Roger and Cal, who all rushed towards the two monsters, only to be shot back onto by Scorpion's quills. This time, all three of them hit the ground and demorphed.

Cal looked around, seeing the others still trying to get back up. Just as she thought Scorpion and Bison were going to attack them again with full strength, the two monsters were shot down by four blasters.

The six rangers looked up to see Ada, Nate, Vi, and Maya all holding blasters up before they ran to the downed rangers and helped them up.

"We'll explain later, but we have to go!" Maya yelled to them as the sounds of explosions filled their ears. Without questioning it, the group of ten retreated away from the battle, letting the two alien's watch them with smirks on their faces.

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** The rangers reflect on how they got to where they are and where they wish to be as a battle rages on outside.

 **Next Chapter Title:** The Past And The Future

 **So, I decided to change the next chapter idea into a clipshow type to fit my idea better, as the original idea didn't really make sense with where this was going. The next one won't be too much in terms of the clips that can sometimes be unnecessary, and will also have the rangers talking about their future after the final battle as they prepare. It's probably going to be posted before the night is over.**

 **Oh, and if you're wondering what made me not update - there are a few reasons (excuses) I have which includes schoolwork, things with my friends, and I was going to write this on Monday, but I got distracted with the season finale of The Fosters, which I've recently been obsessing over. Fun fact, Geo's portrayal actor is in the show (plays my fav. character Jesus), and the finale ending was crazy! If anyone watches it and hasn't seen it yet, I won't spoil it but it's one of those things that makes you need to see the next episode (sadly, it won't come out until January).**

 **Anyways, here's lineup for the final two chapters.**

 **Special: Rainbow Fighters -** Preview of future story.

 **Ep 30: Guardians Forever! -** Finale!

 **Only three left! I'll most likely see you later with the next chapter! Hope you'll enjoy it!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	31. Ep 29: The Past And The Future

**Hey guys, here's the clipshow-esque chapter. I hope you guys like it, and let me know what you think!**

* * *

 **Last time on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

Nate and Ada nodded, before running out of the room, just as Vi's phone rang. "Hello?" She answered, looking to Maya after the other person spoke for a few moments. She seemed concerned and shocked. "What?! Okay, we'll get there."

"What's going on?" Maya asked, watching Vi put her phone away.

Vi still seemed shocked. "Valcon's sent his final group of Chimera into the city. Alicia thinks this is a full scale invasion, and said to get ourselves and the rangers to the boxing studio ASAP. She's going to stay at Ranger Ops to monitor the situation."

"Okay, let's go," Maya said, grabbing Vi's hand and pulling her as the two sprinted out of the hospital.

~PRAG~

At the fight, Geo hissed in pain as he hit the ground once more, similarly to the others. Most of them had injuries and were already on the ground demorphed, which Geo felt like he was about to.

He still pushed himself back up and stood, along with Roger and Cal, who all rushed towards the two monsters, only to be shot back onto by Scorpion's quills. This time, all three of them hit the ground and demorphed.

Cal looked around, seeing the others still trying to get back up. Just as she thought Scorpion and Bison were going to attack them again with full strength, the two monsters were shot down by four blasters.

The six rangers looked up to see Ada, Nate, Vi, and Maya all holding blasters up before they ran to the downed rangers and helped them up.

"We'll explain later, but we have to go!" Maya yelled to them as the sounds of explosions filled their ears. Without questioning it, the group of ten retreated away from the battle, letting the two alien's watch them with smirks on their faces.

 **Now**

"What the hell is going on guys?" Geo asked, looking around as almost all of them collapsed on the floor as they made it inside of the boxing studio, Maya and Vi chaining up the doors before pulling down the blinds as they did so.

Vi turned as Maya made sure all of the windows and such were locked and secure. "Valcon has almost fully invaded the town. He's sent all of the Chimera he has, along with the two monsters you were fighting. We're unsure of Valcon's location, though."

Cal looked up at Ada and Nate. "Okay, so what are they doing out of the hospital?"

Ada smiled, sitting down next to her girlfriend. "We're okay - Vi and Maya helped us out. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Cal leaned into her, sighing in relief. "I'm okay."

Suddenly, as the ranger began to talk about the situation, pounding came from the doors. It was loud and so forceful that it seemed inhuman. They all looked to Vi as she ran over to the computer and checked the security camera footage from outside.

"Chimera," She told them, putting her hand up as they began to get up. "Don't. There are too many right now. You guys need to take some time to rest and regroup."

Kay crossed her arms. "So you're telling us to just sit here and do nothing while they attack people?"

Vi sighed. "We don't have a choice - if you go out there, you'll surely be hurt, or worse, and then nobody will be able to help anyone."

"What are we gonna do in the meantime?" Roger asked, leaning against the base of the boxing ring.

No one spoke for a while, until Tanzo looked at Geo, Roger, and Cal. "So, what happened in your first battle? Or, how'd you become rangers?"

Roger chuckled. "Well, we weren't exactly excited about it."

 _~Flashback~_

 _Ben left the room and Alicia walked back over to the room. "So, you brought us here for what exactly?" Roger asked, raising an eyebrow._

 _Alicia sighed. "Okay, look, two years ago, I assume you three saw the monsters and the power rangers that stopped them, right?" They nodded. "Well they were chosen because of a curse that was put on them because of a half-human/half-alien hybrid that lived among us for many years. The thing is, when the powers were made, it was unclear if they would work properly, if at all, so we made other powers, but they were lost, and then the powers did work so we didn't exactly think we needed them. But then, the aliens came back, and morphers were made to accommodate the powers that were lost as they were sort of located."_

 _"What does this have to do with us?" Geo asked._

 _"Those pendants have bonded with you, and those pendants are the key to the power of the animal guardians, or you three." Alicia said._

 _Cal was the first to put two and two together. "You're say you want us to be power rangers?"_

 _Alicia nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. You three are the only ones who can do it. So what do you say? Will you three become power rangers?"_

 _The three looked amongst each other, not saying anything._

 _Alicia sat down in a chair near them and sighed. "I know this is a lot to take in, but a decision has to be made. Those creatures will be back, and you three are the only ones that can stop them."_

 _"Oh yeah, no pressure there." Roger rolled his eyes._

 _"I'm sorry, but it's true. No one else can do it, the pendants have already bonded with you." Alicia responded._

 _"What if we're not good enough?" Cal asked, frowning._

 _Geo felt a pang of sadness in his chest at her question. It was true - they might not be good enough to do it. If he couldn't do it, what was the point? Failure was not an option here, and he had almost been killed today._

 _"Fighting with a ranger suit is a lot different than fighting without it. You'll get good fast with it, and my husband Ben will teach you how to be good without it. I can't promise that you'll never get hurt, and I can't really promise anything close to that, but its worth it to save the world, trust me on that."_

 _"We don't really have a choice do we?" Roger asked._

 _Alicia sighed. "You do, but if you choose not to, a lot of people will get hurt."_

 _"I'll try it, but that's a not guarantee that I'll stay." Roger said._

 _"That's all I can ask, thank you." Alicia smiled, handing him a morpher, which was similar to a watch, and had a slot in the side of it. "You are the black ranger with the power of the bear, and to morph, you put your pendant in there."_

 _"I'll do it too." Cal nodded._

 _Alicia handed her a morpher as well. "You are the blue ranger with the power of the gorilla."_

 _Everyone looked to Geo now, wondering what he was thinking. "I'll try, but like Roger said, no promises."_

 _Alicia smiled brightly as she handed the final morpher to Geo. "You are the red ranger with the power of the eagle." She looked at all of them. "I know this is hard, but I hope you all choose to stay."_

 _~Flashback~_

 _Suddenly, before anyone else could respond, their pendants began to warm up, and the morphers on their wrists beeped like a text message. Alicia's face appeared on the screen._

 _"There's a fight at forth and Pearl." Then, her face disappeared._

 _The three looked around and then quickly stood. They walked out of the diner before running towards the location. When they got there, they felt a little less than confident._

 _Standing before them was a group of Chimera standing menacingly in front of a monster that looked like a giant Panda, and held a bamboo stick as a weapon._

 _"What do we do?" Roger asked, looking over at Geo and Cal._

 _Just as he said that, their pendants began to glow and visions of what they had to do filled their heads._

 _Panda watched them with mild interest. She just wanted to destroy them and get it over with. She put her bamboo stick up in the air. "Destroy them!" She yelled. The Chimera began to run forward but were thrown back quickly when the three took their pendants off and held them up in the air, causing them to glow and release a surge of power._

 _"Animal Guardians, Arise!" They yelled in unison._

 _The new rangers brought the arm with the morpher up in front of the and quickly stuck the pendant in the slot, having the black rope being sucked in as well. They felt the surge of power go into them and overtake their bodies. Warm air surrounded them starting at their wrists and soon their whole bodies. They could see their suits forming like colored dust around them, red for Geo, black for Roger, and blue for Cal._

 _"Power of the Eagle!" Geo shouted, raising his fist in the air._

 _"Power of the Bear!" Roger yelled._

 _"Power of the Gorilla!" Cal yelled._

 _"Power Rangers," Something similar to an explosion occurred behind them in their individual colors. "Animal Guardians!"_

 _The three looked at themselves in awe._

 _Geo had a red ranger suit with a complete white torso starting around his neck, shoulders, and waist as well as white cuffs around his gloves and boots. He had a bronze colored belt that cut off the white coloring around his waist that held an average size sword on the right and a blaster on the left. There was small bronze colored ring on each of his upper arms. His helmet had a silver mouth guard, black visor, and a bronze design of the face of an eagle. There was also a small circle on his the upper left side of his chest with eight colors in it - red, black, blue, yellow, pink, crimson, silver, and teal, in that order._

 _Roger had a black ranger suit that was similar to Geo's, though it had the face of a bear on his helmet instead of an eagle. He also had a sword and blaster hanging on his belt._

 _Cal's suit was blue, and also similar to Geo's, though her's had a white skirt that went to her upper thigh from her waist high belt and had a gorilla's face on her helmet rather than an eagle or bear. She had a sword and blaster as well._

 _~End of Flashbacks~_

"Well, thank god you did stay," Ada hugged Cal close. "I mean, none of us would've met if it weren't for you three. Honestly, without the main team, there is no team."

Cal kissed Ada on the cheek. "Well, we couldn't have done it without any of you." She smiled to herself. "I remember when all of you became rangers."

 _~Flashback~_

 _"So, what's going on?" Tanzo asked, a smile on his face. Cal thought it was strange that, no matter what, Tanzo seemed to have a smile on his face. Despite the strangeness of it, she also found in comforting. The other rangers, including herself, weren't extremely optimist, so this kind of optimism was nice to be around._

 _"I've asked Roger and Geo to meet us at our base, which is where I'll be taking you," She led him outside, where she parked her mother's car. She gestured for him to get in the passengers seat while she got in the drivers seat. She started driving. "I'm surprised you even showed up," She said as they drove towards Ranger Ops._

 _He chuckled. "Why is that?"_

 _"Well, most people would've freaked out about finding out they're one of the only people left on Earth to save it from a race of evil aliens," Cal responded with a smirk._

 _Tanzo smiled. "Well, I guess I'm not most people,"_

 _Cal pulled up outside of the building. "I guess not," She said as she parked and exited her car to see Geo just arriving as well. "Hey," She greeted._

 _"Hey," Geo nodded at her, and then looked to Tanzo, "Have you filled him in yet, or...?"_

 _Cal shook her head. "I wanted to wait for all of us to be here,"_

 _"And we are," Roger said as he walked up to them. He patted Tanzo on the back. "Welcome to Ranger Ops,"_

 _Tanzo looked up at the building in awe and smiled. "This is amazing!" He cried. "This is your base?!"_

 _"Our base, now," Cal smiled as the three led their newest member into the building._

 _"This is even better in here!" Tanzo said, staring up at the high ceilings and beautiful, pure white decor._

 _"Thank you," Alicia smiled as she came in and sat in a chair facing the couch. "I designed it myself." Tanzo looked over at her, startled out of his stupor. "I'm Alicia, your mentor of sorts," She held a hand out to shake his._

 _Tanzo shook her hand. "Tanzo," He replied._

 _"So, I hear you have a pendant," Alicia said, gesturing for him to sit down on the couch in front of her, which he quickly did. "Which one is it?"_

 _"Umm..." Tanzo looked down at his. "There's an elephant on it,"_

 _Alicia nodded and pulled out a morpher, handing it to him. "You are the yellow ranger, with the obvious power of the elephant."_

 _"So, I'm really a power ranger?" Tanzo laughed in shock. "That's great!"_

 _~Flashback~_

 _The rangers ran to the scene of the battle to see Kay flip off of the play structure and kick down the final Chimera. She turned to see the Geo and the other rangers._

 _"Who is that?" Tanzo asked. "I thought it was just you guys."_

 _"It was," Geo nodded. "But not anymore." He walked towards Kay, with the others following behind, a bit confused. "Kay, will you take this morpher and be apart of our team?"_

 _Kay looked among them. She thought about it for a moment. This meant she had to be at least somewhat sociable with others, which is something she usually isn't. She knew she probably should have some friends, and these four didn't look too bad._

 _"Yeah, I will," She took the morpher from his hand and strapped it on her wrist like they did. It glowed pink for a moment before resting comfortably on her wrist._

 _"Ready guys?" Geo asked, looking among them._

 _"Ready."_

 _"Animal Guardians, Arise!" They yelled together._

 _"Power of the Eagle!"_

 _"Power of the Bear!"_

 _"Power of the Gorilla!"_

 _"Power of the Elephant!"_

 _"Power of the Flamingo!" Kay exclaimed._

 _As she morphed, Kay felt a comfortable warmth surround her as her suit formed around her body like pink dust. Her suit was similar to Cal's, though her helmet was had the head and wings of a flamingo around her visor. She also had a sword and blaster on her belt._

 _Kay watched the other rangers go at Goat for a moment. This was it. She was actually a power ranger. Geo was right._

 _~Flashback~_

 _"Come out, little pink ranger," He hissed. "I won't hurt you too badly."_

 _Suddenly, she heard a blast and ducked even further behind the car. When she didn't feel anything, as poked her head out to see Veenom on the ground. She frowned and stood up slowly. As she did so, she saw something shocking standing there, holding a battle axe in one hand and a blaster in the other. She stared in shock as she heard a few words uttered._

 _"Power of the Owl! Crimson Ranger!"_

 _Kay stood there, stunned for a moment. She hadn't heard of another ranger from any of the others, so this was a major surprise to her. She turned to look down at Cal, who had demorphed but regained partial consciousness as she pulled the dart of out her arm weakly._

 _"Cal?" Kay asked, hoping she was okay enough to respond. The blue ranger rolled her head up to look at her and Kay gave her an awkward smile, even though she couldn't see her face. "Umm.. how many rangers are there exactly?"_

 _Cal gave her a strange look. "Five.." She slurred. "Why?"_

 _Kay gestured over the car with a nervous chuckle. "Well, now there's six,"_

 _As Cal attempted to look around the car, Kay looked back towards the ranger, who put the blaster in the holster of her belt. This ranger had a suit like Cal and Kay's, though her suit was crimson and had the helmet design of an Owl. She also carried a battle axe, which was crimson at the hilt. Kay could see what she looked like, but she was quite a bit taller than her, standing around 5'7._

 _Veenom pushed himself up and looked her over with a chuckle._

 _"Oh, another ranger?" He smirked. "Wow, you three having a girl's day out?"_

 _The crimson ranger rolled her eyes under her helmet. "I don't even know those two," She shook her head. "I'm more of a one woman show."_

 _Kay and Cal frowned at this, Kay helping Cal standing against her so she could see as well. The ranger looked over to them, and stared for a moment at Cal, before turning back to Veenom, who was waiting for her to do something._

 _"Are you just going to stand there?" He crossed his arms. "What a good ranger you are,"_

 _She growled under her breath and ran at him with her axe held high. As she expected, Veenom ducked so she brought her axe under at the last minute and hit him back hard, making him fly back._

 _Veenom held his injury with his arm and glared at her. He grabbed one of his darts when someone appeared in front of him. It was Jamie. He turned to Veenom and shook his head. "Terra requests you back. Now."_

 _The monster almost laughed. "I'm sorry, child. I didn't know I got my orders from you."_

 _Jamie turned to the three girls and held his hand out, blasting them all back before they could react. He then grabbed Veenom by the arm and teleported away. Kay had demorphed in the blast, having shielded Cal since she was already unmorphed._

 _Kay groaned and managed to get up, but she didn't know how she would get Cal back to Ranger Ops. She looked over to the crimson ranger, who had also demorphed, but was much better off._

 _The crimson ranger had long black hair that was covering her face, but she soon looked up at Kay. She had pale skin, blue eyes, and a hard expression on her face. She stood up, dusting herself off. She wore a crimson and black plaid shirt covering a black tank top, ripped black skinny jeans, and crimson converse._

 _"Hey," Kay called to her. She looked back at Kay, her expression turning defensive. "I'm sorry to bother you," Kay rolled her eyes. "But I can't carry my friend back to our base. You don't have to stay there, but I need help to get her there."_

 _The girl looked over at Cal on the ground and stared at her for a moment once again. She nodded, still looking at Cal. "Alright."_

 _Kay gave her a half-hearted smile. "Thanks. I'm Kennedy, by the way. You can call me Kay, though. This is Callie, but we call her Cal."_

 _She chuckled a bit as she knelt down next to Cal, seemingly amused. "I'm Adelaide, but I go by Ada,"_

 _Ada picked up Cal in a bridal carry, the girl once again unconscious. Ada shifted her to make sure she was alright before they were teleported away._

 _~Flashback~_

 _Kay was sitting outside of the school with Nate, deciding that they would hang out and study for a bit more even after the tutoring center closed. As the two sat there, Kay knelt down to pick something up and was shocked to see a dart hit the ground next to her. She stood up straight and looked in the direction it came, as did Nate, only to see Veenom walked ominously towards the two._

 _"Nate, you should run," She told him, keeping her eyes on Veenom as she turned her head back towards him._

 _Nate frowned. "And why is that? To leave you here to die? I can help you."_

 _Kay almost rolled her eyes. "I doubt that," She pushed him back a bit. "Go, please."_

 _Veenom walked closer and stopped ten feet away from the two. "Two for the price of one, huh? Perfect."_

 _"We both know you only want..." Kay paused as she looked back at Nate, before taking a deep breath and continuing. "Power rangers, Veenom! Let Nate go!"_

 _Veenom laughed. "Oh, pink ranger, how naive. I don't care who is a power ranger or who isn't. I want to kill everyone."_

 _Kay pulled her pendant off. "We'll see about that. Animal Guardians, Arise! Power of the Flamingo!"_

 _Nate stood and watched her as she pulled out her sword and ran forward. Even from the get go, it was very obvious how outmatched she was against just Veenom. He was a very experienced fighter, and always had it out for humans from the get go._

 _Kay kicked up at Veenom's face, but due to her small stature and his large one, she only made it to his chest and was pushed down easily in the process. She flipped back up to her feet and punched up with one hand and stabbed her sword at his abdomen with the other. Veenom dropped his scythe and weapons and grabbed both of her hands, twisting them out and pushing her down to her knees._

 _"Shall I break them?" He asked, smirking._

 _"I don't think so," Nate growled, a silver light shining from under his top._

 _Veenom and Kay both looked at him as he pulled out a glowing pendant with a lion on it. They stared in shock, watching as he pulled it off and shoved it in a morpher of his own._

 _"Animal Guardians, Arise!" He called as silver and black dust began to surround his body. "Power of the Lion!"_

 _Nate stood there, fully morphed and staring angrily at Veenom. His suit was similar to the other guys, except his suit had a lion on his helmet, and had a full silver chest plate covering the white part of his suit. His suit was also majorily a dark gray shade with only his chest plate being silver. The chest plate also had a larger version of his pendant on the front._

 _Kay almost smiled, though she was still very shocked. She honestly never would've guessed. "Nate," She laughed in relief. "You're a ranger."_

 _~Flashback~_

 _From inside Carlyle's, Benny watched the rangers morphing and fighting against the new monster, Skunk. Skunk was a powerful adversary, and knocked the rangers back easily._

 _He grabbed what looked like a grenade from his belt and threw it at the diner, making it through the window and into the restaurant. Most of the people in the diner had backed up against the far wall and didn't see the object in, but Benny walked slowly towards it as the rangers got up form the ground and threw themselves back at Skunk._

 _Benny picked up the device carefully and looked it over. Suddenly, it began spraying a strange green fog from the top. Benny reached his other hand up to touch it lightly, but immediately dropped it and clutched his hand in pain when it burned him. He backed away into the bathroom nearby as the fog began to fill the room, and looked at himself in the mirror._

 _His pendant glowed teal. "I have to do this, don't I?" He whispered to himself, washing his hand off furiously to fix his burned hand. Almost immediately, the burn disappeared, and he looked at it in shock before looking back up at his reflection. "I can do this."_

 _Benny took his pendant off of his neck and shoved it in a morpher around his wrist. "Animal Guardians!" The pendant was sucked into his morpher, "Arise!"_

 _Suddenly, Benny began to be surrounded by teal colored dust, and as it disappeared, he looked back at himself in the mirror. He took in the teal suit - one that looked similar to Tanzo's excepted it was teal and had a helmet designed after a giraffe._

 _~End Of Flashbacks~_

"You know, thinking back on when this all started.. it makes me wonder what it's gonna be like when it's over." Kay commented, looking around the room. "I mean, we left for a year and we're all back here doing this all over again. What's gonna happen when it's really over?"

Vi and Maya sat with the rangers. "You'll go back to your lives from before you became rangers." Vi said, almost sadly.

Geo scoffed. "I don't think that's possible. So much has happened - we can't just go back to the way it was before, not with what we know and what we've been through."

Roger nodded. "Amen to that," He agreed. "There's no way we can go back, and while a part of me wishes I still had things I had back then, I'm happy to say that I actually like the way I am now. I think we've all changed for the better."

"Oh completely," Ada chuckled. "I didn't even want to be a part of the team when I first showed up."

Kay chuckled with her. "Me neither, honestly. I was scared and confused."

Benny looked down. "I didn't want to be a ranger because of my sister. She went missing and I couldn't find her, so I wanted to focus all of my time on that rather than being a ranger. I'm glad I became one though," He smiled up at them. "I'm glad to have met all of you," He gave Geo a pointed look, which the red ranger returned.

Tanzo looked around the room. "So am I the only one that actually wanted this or what? I thought it was exciting."

"Hey, I wanted to be one too," Nate reminded him. "I love helping people, and being a ranger seemed like the perfect way to do it. That hasn't changed, I still love it.

"I didn't necessarily want it," Cal spoke up, "But I didn't _not_ want it. I guess I was a bit confused, but I've been willing to do it since the start."

Geo nudged her. "You brought us together, Cal; you and Vi. Just look at what we've done, and we have you guys to thank for that."

Cal smiled. "Well, it's kinda my dream to help people and make this world more peaceful. If I can do that through fighting monsters, so be it." She looked down, the smile still on her face. "You know, I was actually thinking about making a nonprofit charity to help people who have suffered from these attacks after high school."

Ada hugged her close. "I think that's an amazing idea. Hey, I'll help in anyway I can."

"Really?" Cal looked up at her as Ada kissed her on the forehead.

"I would love too." Ada nodded. "You know, my dream has always changed - my most recent aspiration was about being a psychologist, but this is way better. I'm excited,"

Tanzo perked up at hearing Ada's dream. "You've wanted to be a psychologist? Dude, I've always wanted to be a therapist!" He sobered a bit. "I don't think I can though. I don't really have the best grades. I also really wanted to be in my band, but that wasn't really for me."

Benny shook his head. "Hey, you can do anything you set your mind to, Tanzo," He told him. "I've always thought about being a computer technician, but I really want to open up an internet cafe with a mix of new and old arcade games."

"That's really cool," Nate told him.

Benny smiled. "Thanks. What do you want to do?"

"Baseball," Nate smiled back. "I was like a dream come true to be able to play travel ball, and now I know I have a shot towards the real leagues, you know?"

Kay kissed his cheek. "You'll definitely get in. You do great at the game."

Nate hugged her. "So, what about you? What's your dream?"

She shrugged. "Well, you guys know I'm into science. Me dream is to be a doctor or geneticist, maybe, and then make a scientific breakthrough of some sort."

"That's living large," Geo commented. "I like science too, and history. I was thinking about maybe a biologist or an archaeologist."

They all then turned to Roger, who had yet to say anything. He looked around, and sighed. "I.. I'm not sure anymore. My parents want me to be a lawyer, run for president maybe. They pressured my brother into trying to become a doctor." Roger looked down, fiddling with his hands.

"Well, what do you want to be?" Vi asked.

"A writer," Roger said, looking back up at them. "It's one of my favorite pastimes - I do it whenever I can."

Maya smiled. "Me too. I love it - I want to be a poet or maybe write a bunch of short stories and have them published in a book." She nudged Vi then. "I know what Vi wants to be."

Kay smirked, leaning forward, along with the others. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

Vi laughed. "I want to be dancer," She smiled as the others looked shocked. "I've been dancing almost since I could walk. It's always been a real passion of mine."

After she spoke, the room quieted down and they all sat in the room, the only sound being the pounding at the door. That was, until Cal broke the silence. "What if we loose?" She asked quietly, attracting all of the attention to her. No one seemed to know exactly how to respond.

"We won't." Geo turned to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, before looking around the room. "I know this situation seems really bad, and it is, but we can't give up hope and we can't stop fighting. If we keep our hope and we fight as hard as we can, we'll always win. That's how people before us have won, that's how people after us will win, and that's how we'll win."

Tanzo looked up at him. "Are you sure?"

Geo nodded. "100%." He gestured for them to come in closer. "Come on, let's make a plan and end this once and for all."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** Prologue/Preview of Power Rangers: Rainbow Fighters.

 **Next Chapter Title:** Special: Rainbow Fighters

 **Only two chapters left! As you already can see, the next chapter is a preview of one of my upcoming series' and will not involve these rangers. You read it after you read the finale (which, if I double update, should be up tomorrow), but I really hope you guys will like it!**

 **As with the last preview I had, I will be giving you guys a new opening and everything, and most of the info should be in the next chapter.**

 **The only chapter left after the next is the finale! I hope you guys liked this chapter and I'll see you tomorrow!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	32. Special: Rainbow Fighters

**Hey guys, here's the preview to one of my next stories! This chapter won't have any fight scenes or anything, but will instead show the future characters getting their powers with this chapter acting more as a prologue than anything.**

 **Summary:** When an unstable, alien warrior named Jetta wants to take all of the color and light from Earth, a disgraced Light Warrior named Adrianne must fight back and call upon a group of five teens to help destroy her.

 **Also, a big thank you to Aquilla the Eagle, who created all of the rangers for this story! I only own Adrianne, the villains, and any minor characters!**

 **John is portrayed by Nick Robinson**

 **Brett is portrayed by Colin Ford**

 **Molly is portrayed by Nathalia Ramos**

 **Doug is portrayed by Asa Butterfield**

 **Jessie is portrayed by Rhyon Nicole Brown**

 **Adrianne (Ms. Smith) is portrayed by Emily Swallow**

 **Jetta is portrayed by Zooey Deschanel**

 **Darcei is portrayed by Tahj Mowry**

 **Fuscienne is portrayed by Zoe Saldana**

 **Oh, and the opening video link is in my bio! I hope you guys like it, even though I messed up a bit with the audio. Also, the characters introduced in this chapter have bios up on my wiki if you want to check it out! Enjoy!**

* * *

In the middle of the forest on the outskirts of the Northern California town of Rainbow Rivers, sat an alien-looking space ship. It was smoking, but otherwise would seem dormant to anyone with an untrained eye. To anyone with a trained eye, however, they would be able to see the faint lights coming from the inside of the ship, revealing it to be inhabited.

On the inside, a human-looking alien woman sat, seemingly staring off at nothing. She wore Grecian-looking armor and had a large staff in hand with multiple blades erupting from the top. Her long black hair sat on her pale shoulders, while her blue eyes stared into the distance with no emotion.

Soon, two other alien warriors, also looking similar to humans, came into the control room, causing the woman to dart her eyes over to them, keeping her emotionless expression on her face.

Both of the warriors had dark skin, short brown hair and eyes, and were wearing armor similar to the woman.

"Jetta," The one of the other warriors, a woman, began to speak. She stopped, however, when Jetta stood up and walked over to her, grabbing the woman by her face with her unnaturally long nails pressing hard into her skin.

"Fuscienne," Jetta spoke, pulling her face close. "Are we on Earth yet?"

The male warrior standing next to Fuscienne nodded. "Yes, we've been on Earth for a few days, my liege. I thought you were aware of that."

Jetta turned her head to him, as if seeing him for the first time. "Darcei.. was I speaking to you?"

Darcei looked startled. "Well, I just thought you should know since Fuscienne was not speaking."

"Do you assume that you'll be rewarded for speaking over another warrior?" Jetta questioned, looking at him as she let go of Fuscienne's face and turned slowly towards him. "Because you're mistaken, if so. I wouldn't want to take away the opportunities of my other warriors."

Darcei nodded. "I apologize, Jetta."

Jetta tilted her head to the side. "Apologize to Fuscienne," She drawled, turning and walking back to sit down in her throne. "Are you aware of why I asked? It's because, if so, we should have the crystals already."

"We have not located the exact locations of the crystals yet, Jetta," Fuscienne told her. "Though, we have determined that this is the general area that they should be in."

"Okay," Jetta nodded. "So, I assume that you've come up with a way to locate them, then?"

Fuscienne sighed. "Somewhat. The crystals don't let off as much energy until they have connected with a.. human."

"And that means?" Jetta bore her eyes at Fuscienne.

The warrior woman looked away nervously. "Umm.. we would have a much easier time locating them once a human takes the crystal and is.. connected with it."

Jetta looked up at the side, at nothing. "When a human connects with one of them, you'll destroy them?" She hummed in annoyance. "No."

Darcei stared at her. "You don't want the crystals?"

"I do," Jetta said, turning quickly towards him. "I would like to observe how they.. work. Let the humans keep them for now. See what happens.. maybe send out a monster to attack"

Fuscienne rubbed her arm. "Wouldn't it be more efficient to get the crystals now?"

"Why?" Jetta raised an eyebrow lazily at her. "The humans wouldn't know what to do with them.. in fact, it might just change them."

"Into Light Warriors," Darcei reminded her. "The race that makes it their job to destroy us."

Jetta shook her head. "There are no light warriors on this planet. They'll be overwhelmed with the power; we could get them on our side, possibly," She put her hand up as Fuscienne opened her mouth to speak. "Leave me now."

Darcei and Fuscienne nodded and walked out of the control room, leaving Jetta alone. Darcei pulled his partner to the side. "She's going to get us killed." He hissed under his breath.

Fuscienne put a hand over his mouth. "And you will get us killed by talking like that," She retorted, pulling him into a whole other room and letting go of him. "Jetta knows what she's doing."

"No, she doesn't." Darcei shook his head. "She doesn't even know what she's talking about half of the time, let alone what she's doing or what she wants. We need to destroy her."

Fuscienne stared at him in shock. "Never." She growled. "Jetta has destroyed planets, and her underlings. I'm not about to be one of those," She shook her head. "Let's just keep an eye out for the crystals, alright? Who knows where they could be?"

 **\- Cue Opening (link in bio) -**

It was about 6:30 in the morning, and a teenage boy was seen running through the park. It was late May, but, despite the incoming summer months, it was still a bit cold in the morning. Thankfully, the 6'0 tall boy enjoyed the cooler temperatures surrounding him, as he found it easier to exercise harder in the cold than the heat.

He inhaled sharply, taking in the smells of the grass and the fresh air around him. He always enjoyed being around nature, and felt that a lot of people didn't really see it for what it's worth.

Eventually, after a few more minutes of running, he stopped and sat on a nearby bench, looking around him at a patch of beautiful white flowers he saw almost every morning when he went for his runs.

The boy ran a hand through his raven colored hair, leaning forward to observe the flowers closer. As he did so, he noticed a faint green shine coming from beneath all of the flowers and weeds.

He leaned forward, gently pushing back the flowers. When he did so, he was shocked to see a very light green crystal sitting in the dirt. The crystal was nearly see through, though it seemed to be what was omitting the green shine.

"What are you?" He asked, almost as if the crystal could give him an answer back. _Maybe you're just seeing things, Doug._ He thought to himself.

He reached down, his fingers barely grazing the crystal when he felt a very powerful warmth overcome him. The warmth was comforting and felt safe, leading him to grasp the object firmly in his hand and pull it up out of the dirt.

Leaning back onto the bench, Doug opened his hand and turned the crystal over with his fingers, seeing it reflect with an even stronger color against the light.

"Wow," He whispered, huffing out a small laugh. "That's crazy."

He clutched the crystal tight in his hand and shoved it deep inside his pants pocket, before getting up from the bench and running off, back in the direction he came.

\- PRRF -

At Rainbow Rivers High School, another boy sat in the theater at school, looking over the script he wrote as his final project. He was sitting on the stairs leading up to the stage, and leaned against the stage itself.

He read over the last page and smiled to himself. "Yeah," He nodded. "This is perfect. There's no way Mr. Louis would choose someone else's above mine now."

"John," A voice called, and the boy looked up, his brown eyes catching on the tan skinned girl in front of him. "Louis wants us out of here while he sets up for class."

John nodded, picking up his backpack and following the girl out. "Thanks, Nancy," He smiled as he walked over to a concrete structure to put his backpack on while he carefully put his script in there. Behind the structure was a group of small bushes, and a strange red flash coming from them caught his eye as he did so.

He leaned over, trying to get a better look, though it was obvious he wouldn't be able to see whatever it was without actually reaching into the bushes.

"Hey, you coming to the table?" Nancy asked, waiting beside him as he leaned over the bushes.

John looked over, almost startled as he remembered she was standing there. "Oh yeah, I'll meet you there in a second, alright? I just need to.. fix my backpack."

Nancy nodded. "Okay, I'll see you there."

He watched her walk away, waiting until she was out of sight for him to crouch down and look through the bushes. John pushed leaves out of the way, before spotting the red flash again.

Now seeing where it actually came from, he reached forward and grabbed the object, falling back in shock as the object sent a strange warm feeling surging throughout his body.

Shocked, he looked over at the ground where the object had fallen out of his hand, and was almost more shocked to find a clear, light red crystal sitting on the ground beside him.

"What the hell?" He whispered, picking it up and holding it up, seeing it reflect red on the ground around him.

John clutched the crystal tight in his hand as he stood up. He grabbed his backpack off of the concrete structure and opened the smaller compartment, putting it carefully in there before zipping it up and throwing his backpack up on his shoulder.

He ran a hand down his pale face, before quickly walking off towards his table. As he did, he passed the principal, who was talking to a woman in a very professional looking dress with a black blazer over the top.

"I don't know," The principal, Mrs. Durham, said, looking off to the side. "Do you really think it will help the students, Ms. Smith?"

Ms. Smith watched John pass by, before turning back to Mrs. Durham. "I truly believe that I could help the students with this. Since this is a new project, I completely understand that this is simply a trial run and I would only require a few students each trimester of summer school."

Mrs. Durham seemed to think for a moment, before nodding. "Alright, I'll allow you four students for the first trimester, and two new students added every new month, as well as allowing you to have a teaching assistant, if you'd like."

"I'll look into it," Ms. Smith smiled, her hazel eyes gleaming for a moment. "Thank you, Mrs. Durham. I won't let you down."

\- PRRF -

A teenage girl walked quickly down the street, trying to get to school as quickly as possible, as she knew she was already late to her first period, which happened to be social studies.

As she walked on the sidewalk, she took notice of how many people around her were also late, though she wasn't all too shocked. She was late to her first period more often than not, and almost always saw plenty of people as late, or even later, than she was.

She assumed most of the people didn't really care all too much though, some of them walking very slow, making themselves later than they should be.

Today was an important day, however. While the lightly tanned girl already had a feeling she would have to, this day was the day that she would find out if she was required to go to summer school or not.

Considering she was failing history, it was a very likely possibility.

Despite how she knew most people felt about summer school, she really didn't mind it all too much. While she didn't want more work, she was definitely happy to go to see if she could make any new friends to spend the summer with, even if it didn't feel like much of a summer.

Unfortunately, she also considered that most of the people in her class would probably be less than happy to be there, but who knew? Maybe she would enjoy herself.

She crossed the street, making her way across the crosswalk and onto a small slab of concrete she had to wait on for the cars to stop. As she stepped up onto the concrete, her yellow converse caught on a crack and she tripped, falling on her knees as the light above her blinked rapidly, telling cars to slow down near the high school.

The girl hissed in pain as she fell, leaning against the metal pole to look at her jeans, which, thankfully, weren't ripped. As she moved to stand back up, she noticed a yellow flash of light coming from the ground next to her.

At first glance, she thought it was the light, but when it came again, she frowned in curiosity, brushing away some of the gravel around the bottom of the pole to figure out where the light was coming from.

Brushing away the gravel, the girl was stunned when a strange object - one that was lodged into the gravel - practically sent her falling back to the ground from her kneeling position with a strange warm sensation startling her.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and she grabbed onto the light yellow object, yanking it out of the ground, causing pieces of gravel to fly up around her. She dusted it off, revealing a fully intact, clear crystal with a faint yellow sheen to it.

"This is beautiful," She said quietly to herself. She continued to observe the crystal, but was quickly startled when a honk came from beside her. Looking up, she realized she was holding off traffic and stood up. She was about to put her hand up as an apology, when someone ushered her across the street.

She frowned, pulling away from the person once they were on campus, turning to see a boy in the grade above her looking down at her, a slight smirk on his face pale face.

"Loose a contact or something from that fall?" He chuckled, making her cross her arms, shoving the crystal deep into her pocket as she did so.

"No, but apparently I..." She was cut off by the boy.

"Lost your dignity then?" He crossed his arms, mimicking her. "I'm Brett, and you are?"

She looked him up and down. "Molly," She responded. "Though I'm not even sure if I should be telling you my name, considering I don't know you." Molly said, running a hand through her long, dirty blonde hair.

Brett scoffed. "Hey, you know my name," He gestured to the side, "Look, I gotta go, but it was nice meeting you.. or at least, seeing you fall." As he walked away, he could almost feel the glare she had aimed at him, and smiled to himself.

He turned a corner, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder with his right hand while he looked around the campus, taking his time as he walked to class.

Seeing that he had an average grade as is, and that school was almost over, he didn't really see any use in getting there early - or on time. Besides that, he had already signed up to take summer school to boost his grade, so now it was almost useless to do anything, as he could just make it up in summer school.

As Brett made his way across the field, which was on his way to class, a discoloration in the grass distracted him, and made him look over at it. He looked down, seeing an orange flash of color come out of the green grass.

"Somehow, I don't think that's normal," He muttered, about to walk away when the orange color seemed to flash in his peripheral vision. He stopped again, leaning down this time to get a better look.

Brett dug a bit through the grass, though immediately pulled his hand back with a curse when he touched something that made a comforting warm feeling course through his body, but it felt like he had been shocked the moment he touched it.

Frowning, he dug down a bit deeper, shocked when he pulled an orange tinted crystal out of the dirt, one that shined only orange on through it, rather than a rainbow of colors like most crystals.

He shrugged, putting the strange crystal in his jean pocket, before walking off towards class.

\- PRRF -

Walking across campus for her free period was another teen girl, holding a community service/extra credit sheet in her hand as she walked around to the summer school teacher's classes, trying to find one to volunteer for.

She had already been to a few classes, and had yet to find a teacher who was either willing to take her, or one that didn't already have a teaching assistant for the summer.

Shrugging, she just continued going to other classes, avoiding frustration as she did so. While she tended to be a very calm person, the fact that no one had an open position was getting under her skin a bit.

As she moved to go to the next class, which was a portable classroom, she noticed a faint blue glow emitting from the side of the portable. She shrugged it off at first, but as she got closer, she noticed it flashing against the light.

 _Probably just a mirror or something,_ She thought, leaning over to check it out. As she did so, she was a bit shocked to find that it wasn't a mirror, but rather a light blue crystal sitting directly behind one of the large cinder blocks around the portable.

She kneeled down, reaching over carefully, startled when she felt an almost electric shock kind of feeling, allowing a warm feeling to rush over her like water. It soothed her, and prompted her to pick up the crystal, holding it up against the light to see the blue color it omitted.

The girl stood up and put the crystal in the pocket of her blue boyfriend jeans as she walked up the ramp and into the classroom, where she was shocked to find four other people sitting there, having the teacher, Ms. Smith, talking to them.

"This project is a completely new one, and I think it will benefit you all if you choose to do it. It will completely count towards your summer school attendance, and will give you community service hours for being the first people to test this out on, which could potentially help many other students like yourselves," Ms. Smith spoke, looking to the class.

Sitting in there was only one person the dark skinned girl recognized, which was her cousin, Brett. The other three people were most likely people she had seen in passing, but never spoke to or anything.

"Johnathon Sawyer," Ms. Smith said, and a brown haired boy stood as she offered him a clipboard and paper. "Can you sign here if you'd like to participate?"

John nodded, taking the pen from her and signing, before walking over to the side of the room and standing there as he waited for the others to finish. Ms. Smith called out the other three names.

"Brett Richards,"

"Molly Sumner,"

"Douglas Perry,"

She called, and, one by one, they all came up to the front and signed. When they were all standing against the wall on the side of the room, Ms. Smith smiled and turned to them, only now noticing the girl standing in the door frame.

"I'm sorry, did I call you in too?" Ms. Smith asked, looking at her roster as she shook her head.

"No, I'm here to see if you need a teaching assistant," She said, shooting Brett a look as he opened his mouth to say something. "My name is Jessie Williams."

Ms. Smith opened her mouth to say something, when she noticed the faint blue sheen coming from Jessie's pocket, and then nodded instead. "I would love to take you on as my assistant, thank you so much for volunteering," She smiled, taking Jessie's community service paper and signing it, before handing it back to her and looking among the teens, "I'll see you all back here on the first week of June, I guess," She walked over to the door and walked them out. "Thanks guys!" She called as they walked back towards their classes.

She watched them walk off, before walking back in her own classroom and shutting the door behind her. Peeking out the window and making sure she was fully alone, Ms. Smith walked over to the closet beside her desk and opened it, taking out a sleek maroon box and laying it on the desk.

She sat down in her chair and took a deep breath, opening the box to reveal eight cell phone looking devices. The devices were gold with faint rainbow colors coming through along the whole device. She opened one of the devices, showing herself the empty space in the middle of it, before closing it and setting it back in the box.

"Soon enough," She whispered to herself. "Just a little while longer, and then, we'll be ready."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers Animal Guardians:** The rangers face off against Valcon and the last of his forces in one final battle.

 **Next Chapter Title:** Guardians Forever

 **So, only the finale is up next, huh? The finale will almost definitely be up today (it's now September 3rd, as I'm posting this), and the first chapter of Rainbow Fighters should come up later this week, most likely after I update Guardians of the Galaxy and Emergency Responders first (as I've been putting them off to finish this).**

 **Speaking of first chapters and such, there's only about 4-5 more days to submit up to two characters for Earth Defenders, if you haven't already. I have a lot of submissions, and it almost gets harder to pick every time a new one is submitted, but I really love seeing everything you guys make and it really excites me to write this new series!**

 **Oh, and if you were wondering about the villain Jetta in this chapter, she is supposed to act as strange as she does, as she is a very unstable character, so that was not just some weird mistake if you find her behavior odd.**

 **Anyways, there are no new chapters to go with this story after the next one, so all I can say now is that I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you guys one last time on this one later today. See you guys soon!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


	33. Ep 30: Guardians Forever

**So guys, this is the final chapter of the story. I've been working on this story for about 11 months, and I've been on this website for 4 years and 1 month to tomorrow.**

 **It's just crazy - every time I end a story it feels strange, but I'm glad to be starting new things after this and all. As with every finale in Power Rangers, this will have a lot of fighting, so I hope I don't loose you guys in the midst of things haha.**

 **Anyways guys, here you go. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Last time on Power Rangers: Animal Guardians**

After she spoke, the room quieted down and they all sat in the room, the only sound being the pounding at the door. That was, until Cal broke the silence. "What if we loose?" She asked quietly, attracting all of the attention to her. No one seemed to know exactly how to respond.

"We won't." Geo turned to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, before looking around the room. "I know this situation seems really bad, and it is, but we can't give up hope and we can't stop fighting. If we keep our hope and we fight as hard as we can, we'll always win. That's how people before us have won, that's how people after us will win, and that's how we'll win."

Tanzo looked up at him. "Are you sure?"

Geo nodded. "100%." He gestured for them to come in closer. "Come on, let's make a plan and end this once and for all."

 **Now**

"So, that's it, huh?" Ada crossed her arms, before nodding. "I like it, but there's no way we could beat them like that. You saw what happened when we fought them - we got pummeled."

Geo nodded. "Maybe, but we weren't prepared like we are now. We have a plan, and I know we can do it." He looked around. "Are you guys ready for this?"

All the rangers nodded, but Tanzo brought something up, "Wait, but what about the Chimera outside? There's so many - we'll never get past them!"

Maya stood up and touched a key pad on the wall, opening it up to reveal a vault of weapons - including the ranger's own. Maya grabbed a blaster, and threw a sword to Vi. "We got it." She threw her thumb back. "There's a back door through the locker room that leads away from the Chimera. Just walk around the building and you'll be back into the main town."

"Oh, and you guys might wanna take your personal weapons when you go," Vi pointed out as she, and the rangers, stood up from the floor. "It'll definitely help."

The rangers nodded as they all stood in front of the two. "Ready?" Geo asked, looking at his team as they prepared to morph for, possibly, the last time.

The others looked around each other as well, before nodding. "Ready."

"Animal Guardians," They yelled in unison. "Arise!"

"Power of the Eagle!"

"Power of the Bear!"

"Power of the Gorilla!"

"Power of the Elephant!"

"Power of the Flamingo!"

"Power of the Owl!"

"Power of the Lion!"

"Power of the Giraffe!"

Maya and Vi watched them morph, before they all walked forward and took their weapons. Geo took his sword, Roger with his mace, Cal with her bow, Tanzo with his dagger, Kay with her staff, Ada with her axe, Nate with his hammer, and Benny with his spear.

As they were about to leave, Maya called out to them, "Hey! Good luck guys," She said, intensely hoping this wouldn't be the last time she saw them.

They nodded back. "You too," Cal told them, as they all gave each other one last glance before running out of the back door.

"Are you ready for this?" Vi asked, turning to Maya.

Maya took a deep breath. "Ready as I'll ever be."

The two stepped forward and ripped the chains from the door before stepping back, knowing that the Chimera could easily break the lock by itself, if it wasn't already. They waited for a few moments, when the door burst open, allowing the group of Chimera into the studio, running straight for Maya and Vi.

Vi jumped back as a Chimera swung at her, and stabbed it quickly with her sword. She ducked low under a blast, before knocking the feet out from under another near her. Grabbing that one and rising it above her head, Vi launched the downed footsolider into another group that was trying to blast at her.

Maya blasted one back when it swung a sword at her, and jumped above a low-aimed kick. She flipped back, out of the way of a blast before blasting that one back with her own weapon. She shot another blast at an incoming Chimera, but the blast missed and hit the wall, making Maya rush to duck out of the way, allowing the Chimera to practically tackle the punching bag next to her.

She looked up from her place on the ground, looking at the large hole in the wall. Maya scrambled back into the weapons vault and looking around, seeing a flame thrower sitting at the top. She took a look back at the studio, having to shoot another Chimera down in the process, before she grabbed the flame thrower and pointed it at the foot soldiers.

"Vi!" She cried, knocking a Chimera down with her fist as she flipped over to stand next to her girlfriend. "I have an idea, but I don't think you're gonna like it - you or Ben."

Vi looked over at the flame thrower in her hand as she kicked a Chimera square in the chest. Her eyes widened behind her glasses. "You're no gonna do what I think you're gonna do, are you?"

Maya nodded, smacking an alien down with the butt of the weapon. "I don't want to, but I think it's our best chance."

The intern slashed a Chimera across its body, before sighing and nodding. "I'll create a distraction, and you get ready."

"Wait," Maya pulled her in close, planting a kiss on her lips. "I love you." She said, staring at Vi.

Vi nodded. "Yeah, I love you too."

The two stared at each other for a few more moments before they ran in separate ways. Vi ran to stand in the boxing ring, slashing down Chimera with ease as she made her way over there. She grabbed Maya's disregarded blaster and shot them left and right, attracting all of the attention on her and allowing her to shoot at the walls in the process, breaking down the integrity of the building.

Meanwhile, Maya ran over to the locker room and out through the back door, finding a can of propane sitting out next to the building from the shop next door. She grabbed it and hauled it in, throwing it into the boxing ring as Vi flipped over the group of them and ran to stand at the front door with Maya.

Maya turned the flame thrower on and wrapped a rubber band around the trigger to make it keep going. Once it was at full strength and secure, Maya threw the weapon at the boxing ring and the two girls made their escape through the back door, running away just as the entire building exploded.

 **~Cue Opening 3~**

Kay groaned as she hit the ground once more, having been thrown back by Bison. While Ada, Benny, and Nate went after Scorpion, Kay and Tanzo were in charge of handling Bison.

Besides the monster's obvious, and intense, strength, Bison really didn't have much over them.

The pink ranger watched Tanzo fight the monster, the yellow ranger grabbing him by his upper body to try and tackle him to the ground or throw him off of balance, though it definitely wasn't working for him, as Tanzo was thrown back second's later.

Kay scrambled over to help him up off the ground, before pulling him behind a car as Bison began to throw discarded objects at them.

"What the hell are we gonna do?" Tanzo whispered frantically. "Was Geo really sure about this idea? I mean, if we can barely get him, how can the others fight against Scorpion or Valcon?"

"I know what to do," Kay told him, looking up once to see what Bison was doing, but having to duck back when a barrel was thrown at her.

Tanzo stared at the barrel in shock. "Where did he get barrels from?"

"Not important," Kay growled. "Look, the only thing Bison has on us is his strength. Without that, we would be able to take him down without a second thought."

The yellow ranger nodded. "Okay, but how does knowing that help us?" The two shrieking as something else flew over their heads.

Kay smirked under her helmet. "Because, that's how we're going to take him out. Just do exactly as I say, okay?"

Bison continued to throw things at them, and was beginning to wonder if the two rangers had ran away since they didn't seem to be coming out. He walked closer, just as the pink ranger jumped up on the car and used her staff to launch herself at the monster.

Kay wrapped her legs around the alien's waist and began to punch rapidly at his face, disorienting him as Tanzo came out from the car, unnoticed by the monster, and grabbed Bison by the legs and running back, effectively knocking him to the floor while Kay pinned him.

"Now!" Kay exclaimed, making Tanzo pull his dagger out of his belt and ram it hard into the alien's leg, making his unable to stand as Kay beat him down.

Tanzo stepped back as Kay jumped off of the disoriented Bison, and the two both pulled out their blasters, pointing them at him as he shook his head, trying to regain his bearings to attack the two.

Bison saw the blasters pointed at him, and Tanzo chuckled a bit. "I guess you were right, Kay."

Kay nodded. "I know," She smirked, as the two pulled the triggers, eliciting a large explosion that destroyed Bison and knocked them both back.

~PRAG~

Benny jumped back to avoid Scorpion's tail stabbing at him, and flipped back to get away from the quills being shot back at him. He used his spear to counteract the tail, as both were similar 'weapons.'

He stabbed forward at the monster, but he grabbed his spear and tried to pull it forward. The two got into a tug of war for the spear, in which Benny let go of his weapon to make Scorpion fall and drop the weapon. Benny ran over and grabbed it and stabbed it at Scorpion, but the monster rolled out of the way and jumped to the ground, smacking Benny down with his tail.

"Benny!"

Nate quickly ran in, swinging his hammer at the monster as he flipped through the air. Scorpion put his hand up and pushed the hammer back, making Nate fall on his feet from the air and stumble back a bit, and seemed to be a worse idea for the monster. He clutched his hand, which was a bit deformed from his action.

The silver ranger tried to use this to his advantage, swinging low at Scorpion's hip to attempt to knock him to the ground, to no avail.

"You little brat!" Scorpion grabbed Nate with his tail and threw him, slamming him into a nearby tree trunk.

Ada leaped off of the top of a car, swinging her axe downwards, seemingly aimed towards the monster's head. Scorpion ducked out of the way and put his tail up in and attempt to stop her, but she swung to the side instead, hitting his tail hard and severing it from Scorpion's body.

The monster cried out in severe pain, and grabbed Ada by the neck with his good hand, lifting her up and effectively choking her. She gasped for air and hit downwards at his arm, but he just tossed her off to the side and attempted to collect himself while the three rangers were down.

Benny and Nate ran over to Ada and helped her up, all three of them having their weapons in hand.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Nate asked, looking between the two.

Ada and Benny nodded. "Oh yeah."

"Final strike?" Benny smirked at them.

"Final strike," The two older rangers nodded.

While Scorpion was trying to regain his bearings, the three rangers stood in front of him. He looked over at them, his eyes widening when Ada ran forward, slashing through him easily with her axe, then Nate rushed in, smacking him straight in the chest with his hammer, before Benny jumped in with his spear, stabbing him in the same spot and running hit forward, knocking him against a tree and cracking it down the center.

As this occurred, Scorpion exploded, knocking the three excited rangers off of their feet.

~PRAG~

Valcon stood on top of the tallest building in Welch County, overlooking the chaos as people ran through the city trying to find other people or objects they knew or needed. Some were dead, some were injured, and many were frantic.

The only ones he didn't actually see were the rangers. He wondered why that was for a moment, until he heard the door to the roof opening from behind him, making him smirk to himself.

"So, you actually decided to show up?" Valcon chuckled, keeping his back turned to them. "Even with your whole team with you, you'll never beat me."

He heard one of them scoff. "Good, because we don't have the whole team with us."

Valcon turned slowly, and almost burst out laughing when he saw only three of the eight rangers standing in front of him. "Only three of you? Please, you'll never beat me."

"We'll see about that." Geo growled.

The rangers ran forward. Valcon grabbed Roger and Cal by their arms, slamming them into each other as Geo ran at him. He ducked under Geo's sword, sweeping his feet out from under him. Geo growled and grabbed Valcon's feet and twisting his body to the side, knocking the new leader to the ground. Said leader kicked his foot out at Geo's leg and jumped to his feet.

Cal shot an arrow at him from her bow as he attempted to slam his foot down on Geo's chest. She stood on top of the air conditioner as she shot, getting a better angle from the top of the structure.

Valcon pulled a blaster out of his jacket and shot back at her, making her jump back and duck down to avoid being blasted off of the building or something.

Roger ran back at him with his mace swinging low, and Valcon jumped over it, kicking it out of his hands. He tried not to seem fazed and sent a punch flying towards his face, but Valcon easily grabbed it and twisted his wrist to the side, making him fall to one knee in an attempt to compensate for the pressure being put on his hand. Valcon, noticing this, quickly brought it back to the other side before flipping him to the ground and kicking him off to the side.

Geo jumped over Roger as he slid off to the side, ducking under Valcon's incoming fist. He tried the same move Valcon had used on himself, by trying to sweep his feet out, but Valcon put his foot up and kicked his leg away. Geo flipped back, pulling his out his sword and trying to stab at him with it. Valcon ducked under the first attempt and grabbed the sword, trying to pull it out of his hands. Geo pulled back, and Valcon let go, allowing him to fly back to the floor.

Again, Valcon was hit by an arrow. Cal was now ducking behind the air conditioning unit, opting for safety rather than a great angle. Despite her hiding spot, Valcon saw her when she came up to shoot and blasted her back, making her seem to fall of the side of the building.

"Cal!" Roger called as Geo ran at Valcon, stabbing at him with his sword.

Roger ran to the edge of the building, seeing Cal barely holding on to the barrier above the window just below the edge. Unfortunately, she was just out of Roger's reach.

"This is really bad!" Cal cried up to him. "Can you reach me?!"

"I..." Roger trailed off, looking around for something to use to let down to pull the blue ranger up to the top of the building. He looked to the side of him and saw his mace sitting on the ground. He held it up to see how long the chain was, before looking back down at her. "I'm gonna put my mace down and I want you to grab onto the chain. I'll pull you up!"

Cal looked at the mace as he lowered it. "Are you sure it's strong enough?" She asked, looking up at him worriedly.

Roger swallow past the lump in his throat. "Yeah, it is." _It better be,_ He thought to himself.

"Okay," Cal said as she grabbed onto the chain. Roger prepared himself for the extra weight as she clutched onto the chain for dear life and let go of the barrier she was holding onto. She swung a bit and made a muffled screaming sound as Roger slowly tried to pull her up.

As he did so, he could see the chain straining against the weight. Once she was up close enough for him to reach, he quickly let go of the mace with one hand and grabbed her wrist instead, pulling her up completely and scrambling back from the edge.

They both looked at each other and breathed heavily. "Thank you so much," Cal hugged him tightly, though it was short lived when Geo knocked into them and almost made all three of them fall over the side.

At the hit, the three rangers demorphed and groaned in pain. Valcon walked forward, stepping up on top of the AC unit and looking down on them.

"Any last words, rangers?" He chuckled, training his blaster on them.

None of the three knew what to do. Geo looked around frantically and saw Cal's bow sitting next to him. Since Valcon was on top of the unit, he was standing close to the edge, with his back to it.

While Valcon turned his blaster up to full power, Geo pulled the arrow back and pointed it at him. Valcon looked down and saw this, his eyes widening.

"I have a few," Geo stared in hatred at the leader. "Go to hell," He growled, shooting it at Valcon and making him fly back, off of the building.

All three of them stood up in shock, running over to the edge of the building in time to see Valcon hit the ground and make a large explosion. Unfortunately, the explosion made the building lurch dangerously. The three rangers looked amongst themselves as the building rumbled beneath them.

"We need to go, now!" Roger exclaimed.

"Jump!" Cal exclaimed, causing the three to run to the side of the building. They closed their eyes and jumped just as the floor seemed to be swept out from beneath them.

When Geo opened his eyes next, he found himself landing ungracefully on the ground in Ranger Ops. He opened his eyes in shock and looked up to see Alicia, Ben, Vi, Maya, and the other rangers standing above the three on the floor, smiling at them.

Geo looked over himself and the others, finding himself and them to be more or less alright. "What just happened?" He asked, standing up with Roger and Cal.

"You did it!" Vi exclaimed, looking to be okay, with the exception of cuts and bruises. "You defeated the Animali."

The whole group of rangers looked among each other. "So, does that mean it's over? For good?"

Alicia sighed. "No one can know that for sure," She told them. "But, for now, it's gonna be okay."

"Basically," Maya crossed her arms and shrugged. "There's always going to be more threats, but the Animali won't be one of them."

"But, what does that mean for us?" Ada asked, looking at her morpher.

Ben shrugged. "Whatever you guys want. You're duty to the world has been fulfilled - what you do now.. that's all up to you."

~Epilogue~

A few weeks later, after graduation, the rangers had all gone off in different ways.

Geo went off to college to become an archaeologist, and Benny went with him to finish off his school, with plans to open up his internet cafe where ever he decided to settle down.

Roger decided to go to community college in Welch County, taking creative writing classes to hone his skill as he wrote his first book - Protectors of the Earth. He also developed a relationship with EJ, and stayed at home to take care of his baby brother, Isaiah.

Cal and Ada went on to create a nonprofit organization to help people who have been affected by monster attacks, having known about the pain of the fight better than most people.

Tanzo ended up going to community college, deciding to go to a four year university after graduating to fulfill his dream of becoming a therapist.

Nate went to play college baseball, going to the same college as Kay to stay close until the two graduated and moved onto bigger and better things.

Along with them leaving, Maya and Vi also went. Maya sent a whole book full of her poetry to a publisher, and Vi continued to dance.

Riana, Julie, and Terra left as well. While Terra was still in a comatose state, Riana and Julie decided it would be best to take her back to their home planet in hopes of finding something to help her.

"You miss them, huh?" Ben asked as he approached Alicia, who was staring at a picture she had taken of all of them at graduation. She nodded. "Don't worry, I do too, but I'm really happy for them now. They're doing good."

Alicia smiled softly. "I hope they visit."

Ben chuckled. "They will." He sighed. "You know, something tells me, that, no matter where they go, they'll always have that mindset of being rangers and helping people."

She nodded in agreement. "They will, but that might not be the worst thing. They'll always help others, and that's a great trait to have."

"So, I'm guessing you're still monitoring for any alien/monster activity, aren't you?" Ben crossed his arms.

Alicia turned to look at him. "You know me so well." She said. "But, even if I am, it's not my job to do this anymore. I talked to Iris and Adrianne - they're handling the threats for now."

"You sure about that?" Ben asked.

Thinking for a moment, Alicia nodded once more. "Yeah. I have faith that good will always beat evil in the end. Hopefully that rings true for the new teams."

* * *

 **Next time on Power Rangers:** A new group of rangers form in Rainbow Rivers, fighting against an alien warrior named Jetta, who wants to destroy all of the color and light in the world.

 **Next Chapter Title:** Light Against Darkness

 **So, this is it, huh? This is the final chapter of Power Rangers: Animal Guardians, and I'm pleased with how this series turned out. There was a few rough patches, but overall I believe that this was a very good series and I enjoyed writing it a lot. Let me know what you guys thought, not only of the finale, but of the series as a whole! I'd love to hear your opinions!**

 **I hope to see you guys back with Rainbow Fighters and Earth Defenders later this week, so keep a look out!**

 **Anyways, for now guys, this is goodbye! See you soon!**

 **© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley**


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